1 And the word of the Lord was made to Jonah, the son of Amittai, and said,

2 Rise thou, and go into Nineveh, the great city, and preach thou therein, for the malice thereof goeth up before me.

3 And Jonah rose for to flee into Tarshish, from the face of the Lord. And he came down to Joppa, and found a ship going into Tarshish, and he gave ship-hire to them; and he went down into it, for to go with them into Tarshish, from the face of the Lord.

4 Forsooth the Lord sent a great wind into the sea, and a great tempest was made in the sea, and the ship was in peril for to be all-broken.

5 And shipmen dreaded, and men cried to their god; and sent vessels, that were in the ship, into the sea, that it were made lighter of them. And Jonah went down into the inner things of the ship, and slept by a grievous sleep.

6 And the governor came to him, and said to him, Why art thou cast down in sleep? rise thou, call thy God to help, if peradventure God again-think of us, and we perish not.

7 And a man said to his fellows, Come ye, and cast we lots, and know we, why this evil is to us. And they cast lots, and lot fell on Jonah.

8 And they said to him, Show thou to us, for cause of what thing this evil is to us; what is thy work, which is thy land, and whither goest thou, either of what people art thou?

9 And he said to them, I am an Hebrew, and I dread the Lord God of heaven, that made the sea and the dry land.

10 And the men dreaded with great dread, and said to him, Why didest thou this thing? for the men knew that he flew from the face of the Lord, for Jonah had showed to them.

11 And they said to him, What shall we do to thee, and the sea shall cease from us? for the sea went, and waxed great on them.

12 And he said to them, Take ye me, and throw or send me into the sea, and the sea shall cease from you; for I know, that for me this great tempest is on you.

13 And the men rowed, for to turn again to the dry land, and they might not, for the sea went, and waxed great on them.

14 And they cried to the Lord, and said, Lord, we beseech, that we perish not in the life of this man, and that thou give not on us innocent blood; for thou, Lord, didest as thou wouldest.

15 And they took Jonah, and threw or sent into the sea; and the sea stood of his boiling.

16 And the men dreaded the Lord with great dread, and offered hosts to the Lord, and vowed avows.

17 And the Lord made ready a great fish, that he should swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the womb of the fish three days and three nights.