约拿书 1

1The word of GOD came to Jonah son of Amittai:

2Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness has come before Me.

3Jonah, however, started out to flee to Tarshish from GOD’s service. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went aboard to sail with the others to Tarshish, away from GOD’s service.

4But GOD cast a mighty wind upon the sea, and such a great tempest came upon the sea that the ship was in danger of breaking up.

5In their fright, the sailors cried out, each to his own god; and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make it lighter for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the vessel where he lay down and fell asleep.

6The captain went over to him and cried out, “How can you be sleeping so soundly! Up, call upon your god! Perhaps the god will be kind to us and we will not perish.”

7Those aboard said to one another, “Let us cast lots and find out on whose account this misfortune has come upon us.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

8They said to him, “Tell us, you who have brought this misfortune upon us, what is your business? Where have you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?”

9“I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the ETERNAL, the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land.”

10The men were greatly terrified, and they asked him, “What have you done?” And when the men learned that he was fleeing from GOD’s service—for so he told them—

11they said to him, “What must we do to you to make the sea calm around us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy.

12He answered, “Heave me overboard, and the sea will calm down for you; for I know that this terrible storm came upon you on my account.”

13Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to regain the shore, but they could not, for the sea was growing more and more stormy about them.

14Then they cried out to GOD: “Oh, please, ETERNAL One, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not hold us guilty of killing an innocent person! For You, O ETERNAL One, by Your will, have brought this about.”

15And they heaved Jonah overboard, and the sea stopped raging.

16The men feared GOD greatly; they offered a sacrifice to GOD and they made vows.