1And there is a word of YHWH to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2“Rise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim against it that their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3And Jonah rises to flee to Tarshish from the face of YHWH, and goes down [to] Joppa, and finds a ship going [to] Tarshish, and he gives its fare, and goes down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the face of YHWH.

4And YHWH has cast a great wind on the sea, and there is a great storm in the sea, and the ship has reckoned to be broken; 5and the mariners are afraid, and they each cry to his god, and cast the goods that [are] in the ship into the sea, to make [it] light of them; and Jonah has gone down to the sides of the vessel, and he lies down, and is fast asleep. 6And the chief of the company draws near to him and says to him, “What are you [doing], O sleeper? Rise, call to your God, it may be God considers Himself of us, and we do not perish.”

7And they each say to his neighbor, “Come, and we cast lots, and we know on whose account this evil [is] on us.” And they cast lots, and the lot falls on Jonah. 8And they say to him, “Now declare to us, on whose account [is] this evil on us? What [is] your occupation, and where do you come from? What [is] your country, seeing you are not of this people?” 9And he says to them, “I—a Hebrew, and I fear YHWH, God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10And the men fear a great fear, and say to him, “What [is] this you have done!” For the men have known that he is fleeing from the face of YHWH, for he has told them.

11And they say to him, “What do we do to you that the sea may cease from us, for the sea is more and more turbulent?” 12And he says to them, “Lift me up, and cast me into the sea, and the sea ceases from you; for I know that on my account this great storm [is] on you.” 13And the men row to turn back to the dry land, and are not able, for the sea is more and more turbulent against them. 14And they cry to YHWH, and say, “Ah, now, O YHWH, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not lay innocent blood on us! For You, YHWH, as You have pleased, You have done.”

15And they lift up Jonah, and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceases from its raging; 16and the men fear YHWH [with] a great fear, and sacrifice a sacrifice to YHWH, and vow vows.

17And YHWH appoints a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah is in the bowels of the fish three days and three nights.