7. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots to discover on whose account this evil has come to us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8. They said to him, “Tell us why this evil has come to us! What is your business? Where do you come from? What is your country, and to what people do you belong?”
9. “I am a Hebrew,” he replied; “I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10. Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him, “How could you do such a thing!”—They knew that he was fleeing from the Lord, because he had told them.
11. They asked, “What shall we do with you, that the sea may calm down for us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy.
12. Jonah responded, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea and then the sea will calm down for you. For I know that this great storm has come upon you because of me.”
13. Still the men rowed hard to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy.
14. Then they cried to the Lord: “Please, O Lord, do not let us perish for taking this man’s life; do not charge us with shedding innocent blood, for you, Lord, have accomplished what you desired.”
15. Then they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.
16. Seized with great fear of the Lord, the men offered sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.