Jonah1
New Living Translation
1The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:
2“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”
3But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.
4But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.
5Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.
6So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”
7Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit.
8“Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?”
9Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”
10The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned.
11And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?”
12“Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”
13Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it.
14Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.”
15Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once!
16The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.
17Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Jonah 1.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Jonah, sent to Nineveh, flees to Tarshish. (1–3). He is stayed by a tempest. (4–7). His discourse with the mariners. (8–12). He is cast into the sea, and miraculously preserved. (13–17).
vv1-3
It is sad to think how much sin is committed in great cities. Their wickedness, as that of Nineveh, is a bold and open affront to God. Jonah must go at once to Nineveh, and there, on the spot, cry against the wickedness of it. Jonah would not go. Probably there are few among us who would not have tried to decline such a mission. Providence seemed to give him an opportunity to escape; we may be out of the way of duty, and yet may meet with a favourable gale. The ready way is not always the right way. See what the best of men are, when God leaves them to themselves; and what need we have, when the word of the Lord comes to us, to have the Spirit of the Lord to bring every thought within us into obedience.
vv4-7
God sent a pursuer after Jonah, even a mighty tempest. Sin brings storms and tempests into the soul, into the family, into churches and nations; it is a disquieting, disturbing thing. Having called upon their gods for help, the sailors did what they could to help themselves. Oh that men would be thus wise for their souls, and would be willing to part with that wealth, pleasure, and honour, which they cannot keep without making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, and ruining their souls for ever! Jonah was fast asleep. Sin is stupifying, and we are to take heed lest at any time our hearts are hardened by the deceitfulness of it. What do men mean by sleeping on in sin, when the word of God and the convictions of their own consciences, warn them to arise and call on the Lord, if they would escape everlasting misery? Should not we warn each other to awake, to arise, to call upon our God, if so be he will deliver us? The sailors concluded the storm was a messenger of Divine justice sent to some one in that ship. Whatever evil is upon us at any time, there is a cause for it; and each must pray, Lord, show me wherefore thou contendest with me. The lot fell upon Jonah. God has many ways of bringing to light hidden sins and sinners, and making manifest that folly which was thought to be hid from the eyes of all living.
vv8-12
Jonah gave an account of his religion, for that was his business. We may hope that he told with sorrow and shame, justifying God, condemning himself, and explaining to the mariners what a great God Jehovah is. They said to him, Why hast thou done this? If thou fearest the God that made the sea and the dry land, why wast thou such a fool as to think thou couldst flee from his presence? If the professors of religion do wrong, they will hear it from those who make no such profession. When sin has raised a storm, and laid us under the tokens of God's displeasure, we must consider what is to be done to the sin that raised the storm. Jonah uses the language of true penitents, who desire that none but themselves may fare the worse for their sins and follies. Jonah sees this to be the punishment of his iniquity, he accepts it, and justifies God in it. When conscience is awakened, and a storm raised, nothing will turn it into a calm but parting with the sin that caused the disturbance. Parting with our money will not pacify the conscience, the Jonah must be thrown overboard.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
יוֹנָה: Jonah, an Israelite
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אֲמִתַּי: Amittai, an Israelite
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
קוּם: to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)
יָלַךְ: to walk (literally or figuratively); causatively, to carry (in various senses)
נִינְוֵה: Nineveh, the capital of Assyria
גָּדוֹל: great (in any sense); hence, older; also insolent
עִיר: a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)
Cross References
Jonah 1Jesus explicitly names Jonah's three days in the whale as a type of His resurrection.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
Classic passage demonstrating the absolute impossibility of fleeing from the presence of the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Joshua's interrogation of Achan mirrors the sailors' urgent questioning to discover the specific offender.
Supported by JFB
Identifies Jonah, son of Amittai, as an established historical prophet of Gath-hepher in Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Traces the ancient origins of Nineveh, the great Assyrian city, built by Nimrod.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Confirms the sovereign oversight of the Lord over the casting of lots.
Supported by JFB
Parallel language of wickedness rising up before God, requiring His divine inspection and judgment.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jonah's own explanation for his flight: he feared God's mercy would spare Nineveh.
Supported by JFB
Lyrical description of sailors encountering a God-sent tempest and crying out in distress.
Supported by JFB
New Testament example where godly men cast lots to discern the Lord's chosen direction.
Supported by JFB
Establishes Joppa (Jaffa) as a historic, operational seaport serving Israel since Solomon's time.
Supported by JFB
Similar nautical emergency where cargo is cast overboard to lighten and save the ship.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Spiritual equivalent of the master's call to awake from dangerous, carnal sleep.
Supported by JFB
Verbal echo of the sailors' confession that the Lord does whatever pleases Him.
Supported by Matthew Henry