Jonah
1 And the word of Jehovah began to occur to Joʹnah+ the son of A·mitʹtai, saying: 2 “Get up, go to Ninʹe·veh+ the great city, and proclaim against her that their badness has come up before me.”+
3 And Joʹnah proceeded to get up and run away to Tarʹshish+ from before Jehovah;+ and he finally came down to Jopʹpa*+ and found a ship going to Tarʹshish. So he paid its fare and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarʹshish from before Jehovah.
4 And Jehovah himself hurled forth a great wind* at the sea,+ and there came to be a great tempest+ on the sea; and as for the ship, it was about to be wrecked. 5 And the mariners began to fear and to call for aid, each one to his god.*+ And they kept hurling out the articles that were in the ship to the sea, in order to lighten [it] of them.+ But Joʹnah himself had gone down to the innermost parts of the decked vessel, and he proceeded to lie down and go fast asleep.+ 6 At length the ship captain* came near to him and said to him: “What is the matter with you, sleeper? Get up, call out to your god!*+ Perhaps the [true] God* will show himself caring about us, and we shall not perish.”+
7 And they began to say to one another: “Come, and let us cast lots,+ that we may know on whose account we have this calamity.”+ And they kept casting lots, and finally the lot fell upon Joʹnah.+ 8 So they said to him: “Do tell us, please, on whose account it is that we are having this calamity?+ What is your work, and from where do you come? What is your country, and from which people are you?”
9 At that he said to them: “I am a Hebrew,+ and Jehovah the God of the heavens+ I am fearing,+ the One who made the sea and the dry land.”+
10 And the men* began to fear greatly, and they went on to say to him: “What is this that you have done?”+ For the men had come to know that it was from before Jehovah that he was running away, because he had told them. 11 Finally they said to him: “What should we do to you,+ in order that the sea may become still for us?” For the sea was continually growing more tempestuous. 12 So he said to them: “Lift me up and hurl me into the sea, and the sea will become still for YOU; because I am aware that it is on my account that this great tempest is upon YOU.”+ 13 But the men tried to work their way through, in order to bring [the ship] back to the dry land; yet they were unable, because the sea was continually growing more tempestuous against them.+
14 And they proceeded to call out to Jehovah and to say:+ “Ah, now, O Jehovah, may we, please, not perish because of the soul* of this man! And do not put upon us innocent blood,+ since you yourself, O Jehovah, have done according to what you have delighted in!”+ 15 Then they lifted up Joʹnah and hurled him into the sea; and the sea began to halt from its raging.+ 16 At that the men began to fear Jehovah greatly,+ and so they offered a sacrifice to Jehovah+ and made vows.+
17* Now Jehovah appointed a great fish* to swallow Joʹnah,+ so that Joʹnah came to be in the inward parts of the fish three days and three nights.+