1. The Lord said to Jonah son of Amittai,
2. “Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention.”
3. Instead, Jonah immediately headed off to Tarshish to escape from the commission of the Lord. He traveled to Joppa and found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord.
4. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up!
5. The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep.