1Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, (王下14:25)2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil[1] has come up before me.” (创10:11; 王下19:36; 拿3:3; 拿4:11; 鸿1:1; 番2:13; 太12:41; 路11:30; 路11:32; 启18:5)3But Jonah rose 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, away from the presence of the Lord. (创4:16; 书19:46; 王上10:22; 诗139:9; 拿4:2)4But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. (王上22:48; 诗48:7; 诗107:25)5Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. (诗107:28; 徒27:18; 徒27:38)6So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” (拿1:5; 拿3:9)
Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea
7And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. (士20:9)8Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”9And 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.” (诗146:6; 启11:13)10Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. (拿1:3)11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.12He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” (书7:20)13Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[2] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.14Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” (申21:8; 诗115:3)15So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. (诗65:7; 路8:24)16Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. (创8:20; 创31:54; 拿2:9)
A Great Fish Swallows Jonah
17[3] And the Lord appointed[4] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (太12:40; 太16:4; 路11:30)