UNROLL
Late afternoon: a one-masted ship under a single square sail heads out west onto a gray-green sea, a small headland town behind it, a dark band of cloud low on the horizon.

Running

Jonah 1

Have you ever known exactly what God wanted, and bought a ticket the other way?

17 verses≈ 4 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1RunningJeroboam II’s Israel, about 770 BC: west to TarshishChapter 1
  2. 2From the deepA prayer from inside the fish
  3. 3Nineveh turnsAssyria’s great city repents
  4. 4God’s questionAn angry prophet and a withered plant

Jonah Flees from the LORD

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,

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God

“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”

Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

The Great Storm

To TarshishTigrisMediterranean SeaJoppaNineveh

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

The other way

Nineveh lay about 550 miles north-east of Joppa, overland. Jonah took ship the other way, to Tarshish at the far western end of the sea, perhaps in Spain, over 2,000 miles off.

On the deck of a one-masted ship in a howling storm: the mast bending, the square sail torn loose, a gray wave breaking over the low rail, sailors gripping ropes.

Then the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship was in danger of breaking apart.

The captain

The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

The sailors

“Come!” said the sailors to one another. “Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity that is upon us.”

So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

The sailors

“Tell us now,” they demanded, “who is to blame for this calamity that is upon us? What is your occupation, and where have you come from? What is your country, and who are your people?”

Jonah

“I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah.

Jonah

“I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Jonah 1:9

The sailors

Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Reflect

Sailing away

Jonah ran from a word God had made plain. Is there something God has made plain to you that you keep sailing away from? Write it down, and tell Him honestly.

Jonah Cast into the Sea

The sailors

Now the sea was growing worse and worse, so they said to Jonah, “What must we do to you to calm this sea for us?”

Jonah

“Pick me up,” he answered, “and cast me into the sea, so it may quiet down for you. For I know that I am to blame for this violent storm that has come upon you.”

A one-masted wooden trading ship with its square sail torn, climbing a huge gray wave in open sea under a black sky, tiny crew low on deck.

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was raging against them more and more.

0:08

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

The sailors

So they cried out to the LORD: “Please, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life! Do not charge us with innocent blood! For You, O LORD, have done as You pleased.”

Then they picked up Jonah and cast him into the sea, and the raging sea grew calm.

Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to Him.

Deep heaving green water at dusk, and just under the surface a vast dark shape, its outline only, long as a ship, nothing else in the sea.

Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.

Question

Quick question

God said, “Go to the great city of Nineveh.” Nineveh lay far to the north-east.

Which way did Jonah go when God sent him to Nineveh?

You’ve experienced

Jonah 1

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A verse to carry with you

I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.

Jonah 1:9

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