| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, | 1The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: |
| 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” | 2“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” |
| 3But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. | 3But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the LORD by sailing to Tarshish. |
| 4But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. | 4But the LORD hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. |
| 5Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. | 5Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. |
| 6So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” | 6So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.” |
| 7And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. | 7Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. |
| 8Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” | 8“Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?” |
| 9So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” | 9Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” |
| 10Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. | 10The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the LORD. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned. |
| 11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. | 11And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?” |
| 12And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” | 12“Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.” |
| 13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. | 13Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. |
| 14Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” | 14Then they cried out to the LORD, Jonah’s God. “O LORD,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O LORD, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” |
| 15So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. | 15Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! |
| 16Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows. | 16The sailors were awestruck by the LORD’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. |
| 17Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. | 17 Now the LORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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