Jonah 1:1-5 ▼

1 Now this message from the LORD came to Amittai's son Jonah:

2 |Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city! Then cry out in protest against it, because their evil has come to my attention.|

3 But Jonah got up and fled from the LORD to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, secured passage on a ship bound for Tarshish, paid the fare, and boarded, intending to go with the mariners to Tarshish to escape from the LORD.

4 Then the LORD sent a great wind over the sea, and a severe storm broke out. It seemed as if the ship were about to break up.

5 At this point the mariners became terrified, and each man cried out to his gods. They began to throw the cargo into the sea in order to lighten the vessel. But Jonah had gone down into the vessel's hold, had lain down, and was fast asleep.