1. Now the Devar Hashem came unto Yonah ben Amittai, saying,
2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that ha'ir hagedolah (great city), and preach against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.
3. But Yonah rose up to run away unto Tarshish from the presence of Hashem, and went down to Yafo; and he found an oniyah going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of Hashem.
4. But Hashem sent out a ruach gedolah (great wind) into the yam (sea), and there was a sa'ar gadol (mighty tempest) in the yam, so that the oniyah was like to be broken.
5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his g-d, and cast forth the cargoes that were in the oniyah into the yam, to lighten it of them. But Yonah was gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon Eloheicha, if so be that HaElohim will think upon us, that we perish not.
7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast goralot (lots), that we may have da'as for whose cause this ra'ah is upon us. So they cast goralot (lots), and the goral (lot) fell upon Yonah.