1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying:
2 Rise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it. For its malice has ascended before my eyes.
3 And Jonah rose in order to flee from the face of the Lord to Tarshish. And he went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. And he paid its fare, and he went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish from the face of the Lord.
4 But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea. And a great tempest took place in the sea, and the ship was in danger of being crushed.
5 And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried out to their god. And they threw the containers that were in the ship into the sea in order to lighten it of them. And Jonah went down into the interior of the ship, and he fell into a painful deep sleep.
6 And the helmsman approached him, and he said to him, “Why are you weighed down with sleep? Rise, call upon your God, so perhaps God will be mindful of us and we might not perish.”
7 And a man said to his shipmate, “Come, and let us cast lots, so that we may know why this disaster is upon us.” And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8 And they said to him: “Explain to us what is the reason that this disaster is upon us. What is your work? Which is your country? And where are you going? Or which people are you from?”
9 And he said to them, “I am Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him, “Why have you done this?” (For the men knew that he was fleeing from the face of the Lord, because he had told them.)
11 And they said to him, “What are we to do with you, so that the sea will cease for us?” For the sea flowed and swelled.
12 And he said to them, “Take me, and cast me into the sea, and the sea will cease for you. For I know that it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
13 And the men were rowing, so as to return to dry land, but they did not succeed. For the sea flowed and swelled against them.
14 And they cried out to the Lord, and they said, “We beseech you, Lord, do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not attribute to us innocent blood. For you, Lord, have done just as it pleased you.”
15 And they took Jonah and cast him into the sea. And the sea was stilled from its fury.
16 And the men feared the Lord greatly, and they sacrificed victims to the Lord, and they made vows. |
