Jonah flees from the Lord
1The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’
3But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
4Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.’
7Then the sailors said to each other, ‘Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.’ They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8So they asked him, ‘Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’
9He answered, ‘I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’
10This terrified them and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
11The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, ‘What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?’
12‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea,’ he replied, ‘and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.’
13Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.’ 15Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
Jonah’s prayer
17Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
約拿違背耶和華
1耶和華對亞米太的兒子約拿說： 2「你起來前往尼尼微大城，大聲警告那裡的居民，因為他們的罪惡滔天，已經達到我面前。」 3可是，約拿卻起身逃往他施，想躲避耶和華。他到了約帕港，看見一艘要開往他施的船，就付了船費，上了船，想和眾人一起去他施，好躲避耶和華。
4然而，耶和華使海面起了狂風，滔天巨浪幾乎把船打成碎片。 5水手們非常害怕，紛紛呼求自己的神，又把船上的貨物全都拋進海裡，以減輕重量。這時候，約拿已下到底艙，躺在那裡呼呼大睡。 6船長來到約拿身邊對他說：「你這個人，怎麼這時候還在睡覺！快起來祈求你的神吧，也許你的神會憐憫我們，饒我們一命。」
7後來，船上的人彼此商量說：「來，我們抽籤，看看這場災難是誰惹來的。」於是他們就抽籤，結果抽中了約拿。 8眾人問他：「請告訴我們，這場災難是誰惹來的？你是做什麼的？從哪裡來？是哪一國、哪一族的人？」 9約拿回答說：「我是希伯來人，我敬畏耶和華，祂是創造海洋陸地、掌管諸天的上帝。」 10之後，他就把怎樣逃避耶和華的事告訴他們。眾人知道後，萬分恐懼，問他：「你怎麼做出這種事？」
11那時，風浪越來越大，他們便對約拿說：「我們要怎樣處置你，才能使風浪平靜呢？」 12約拿對他們說：「我知道這場風暴是因我而起的，你們把我抬起來拋進海裡，風浪自然會平靜。」 13然而船上的人還是拚命划船，希望把船划向岸邊，可是沒有成功，因為風浪實在太大了。 14他們只好呼求耶和華，說：「耶和華啊，求你不要因這個人的性命而毀滅我們，不要因我們殺害無辜的人而怪罪我們，因為你耶和華按自己的旨意行事。」 15然後他們把約拿抬起來拋進海裡，狂風巨浪立刻平靜了。 16眾人都極其敬畏耶和華，向祂獻祭，並且許願。
17耶和華安排了一條大魚，把約拿吞下，他在魚腹裡度過三天三夜。
