Jonah 1

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¹Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ✦ ²“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” ✦ ³But Jonah arose 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 the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. ✦ ⁴But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. ✦ ⁵Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. ✦ ⁶So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” ✦ ⁷And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ✦ ⁸Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ✦ ⁹So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” ✦ ¹⁰Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ✦ ¹¹Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. ✦ ¹²And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” ✦ ¹³Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. ✦ ¹⁴Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” ✦ ¹⁵So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ✦ ¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. ✦ ¹⁷Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Ps 107 ·8 Jonah 1 ·7 Josh 7 ·7 Acts 27 ·5 Luke 11 ·3 1 Sam 14 ·3 Matt 26 ·3 2 Kgs 17 ·3

Christ at the center

Three days in the belly of the fish is the sign Jesus gave of his own death and resurrection (Matt 12:40); and God's mercy on pagan Nineveh foreshadows the gospel going to the nations.

How Jonah 1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Jonah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Jonah 1YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Jonah 1David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JonahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Jonah 1Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

Jonah 2 →