Jonah1:1-17

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,  "Go at
once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their
wickedness has come up before me."  But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish
from the presence of the LORD.  He went down to Joppa and found a ship
going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them
to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm
came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up.  Then the mariners
were afraid, and each cried to his god.  They threw the cargo that was in
the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them.  Jonah, meanwhile, had gone
down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep.
The captain came and said to him, "What are you doing sound asleep?  Get
up, call on your god!  Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we
do not perish."

The sailors said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, so that we may
know on whose account this calamity has come upon us." So they cast lots,
and the lot fell on Jonah.  Then they said to him, "Tell us why this
calamity has come upon us.  What is your occupation?  Where do you come
from?  What is your country?  And of what people are you?"  "I am a
Hebrew," he replied. "I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the
sea and the dry land."  Then the men were even more afraid, and said to
him, "What is this that you have done!"  For the men knew that he was
fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them so.


Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet
down for us?"  For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous.  He said
to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet
down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has
come upon you."  Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to
land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against
them.  Then they cried out to the LORD, "Please, O LORD, we pray, do not
let us perish on account of this man's life.  Do not make us guilty of
innocent blood; for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you."  So they
picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its
raging.  Then the men feared the LORD even more, and they offered a
sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in
the belly of the fish three days and three nights.