Jonas 1

ARC · Chapter 1/4

¹E veiu a palavra do Senhor a Jonas, filho de Amittai, dizendo:

²Levanta-te, vae á grande cidade de Ninive, e apregoa contra ella, porque a sua malicia subiu até mim.

³E Jonas se levantou para fugir de diante da face do Senhor para Tarsis, e desceu a Joppe, e achou que um navio ia para Tarsis, e deu a sua passagem, e desceu para dentro d'elle, para ir com elles para Tarsis, de diante da face do Senhor.

⁴Mas o Senhor lançou ao mar um grande vento, e fez-se no mar uma grande tempestade, e o navio estava para quebrar-se.

⁵Então temeram os marinheiros, e clamavam cada um ao seu deus, e lançavam no mar as fazendas, que estavam no navio, para o alliviarem do seu pezo; porém Jonas desceu aos lados do porão, e se deitou, e dormia um profundo somno.

⁶E o mestre do navio chegou-se a elle, e disse-lhe: Que tens, adormentado? levanta-te, clama ao teu Deus; porventura Deus se lembrará de nós para que não pereçamos.

⁷E diziam cada um ao seu companheiro: Vinde, e lancemos sortes, para que saibamos por que causa nos tem vindo este mal. E lançaram sortes, e a sorte caiu sobre Jonas.

⁸Então lhe disseram: Declara-nos tu agora, por cuja causa nos tem vindo este mal. Que occupação é a tua? e d'onde vens? qual é a tua terra? e de que povo és tu?

⁹E elle lhes disse: Eu sou hebreo, e temo ao Senhor, o Deus do céu, que fez o mar e a terra secca.

¹⁰Então estes homens tremeram com grande temor, e lhe disseram: Porque fizeste tu isto? Pois sabiam os homens que fugia de diante do Senhor, porque elle lh'o tinha declarado.

¹¹E disseram-lhe: Que te faremos nós, para que o mar se nos aquiete? Porque o mar se elevava e engrossava cada vez mais.

¹²E elle lhes disse: Levantae-me, e lançae-me no mar, e o mar se vos aquietará; porque eu sei que por minha causa é que vos sobreveiu esta grande tempestade.

¹³Mas os homens remavam, para tornar a trazer o navio para terra, mas não podiam; porquanto o mar se ia embravecendo cada vez mais contra elles.

¹⁴Então clamaram ao Senhor, e disseram: Ah Senhor! não pereçamos por causa da alma d'este homem, e não ponhas sobre nós o sangue innocente; porque tu, Senhor, fizeste como quizeste.

¹⁵E levantaram a Jonas, e o lançaram no mar, e cessou o mar da sua furia.

¹⁶Temeram pois estes homens ao Senhor com grande temor; e sacrificaram sacrificios ao Senhor, e votaram votos.

¹⁷Preparou pois o Senhor um grande peixe, que tragasse a Jonas; e esteve Jonas tres dias e tres noites nas entranhas do peixe.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God commands Jonah to preach in Nineveh, but he flees by ship in the opposite direction. A violent storm threatens the ship, and the sailors discover that Jonah is the cause; thrown into the sea, he is swallowed by a great fish.

Explanation

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Israel's cruel and feared enemy, which explains Jonah's resistance: preaching there meant offering a chance of repentance to a people he saw as deserving nothing but destruction. His flight to Tarshish (likely at the opposite end of the Mediterranean) shows that one can try to flee from a mission, but not from God's active presence. Interestingly, the pagan sailors show more fear of God and more compassion for Jonah than the prophet himself showed toward the Ninevites. The application for today: prejudices and personal grudges can lead us to resist God's will, especially when it involves extending grace to those we consider unworthy of it.

Fun facts

Tarshish is generally identified with a Phoenician colony on the coast of modern-day Spain, which would make Jonah's flight an attempt to reach the farthest known point of the ancient world, in the opposite direction from Nineveh (which lay to the east, in Mesopotamia).
The Hebrew phrase used for 'great fish' (dag gadol) is generic and does not specify the species — later traditions (including the Greek translation) popularized the idea of a 'whale,' but the original text makes no such specification.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Jonas 1:1The standard opening of the prophetic books: the word of the Lord comes to Jonah, identified by his father's name, even before he knows what the mission will be.
Jonas 1:2Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Israel's greatest enemy at the time — that's why Jonah doesn't want to go: he isn't afraid of the mission, he doesn't want Israel's enemies to get the chance to repent and escape punishment.
Jonas 1:3Tarshish lay at the opposite end of the map from Nineveh, likely on the coast of modern-day Spain; Jonah doesn't just run away, he literally flees in the opposite direction from where God sent him, as far as possible.
Jonas 1:4As soon as Jonah flees, God sends a storm so violent that the ship, his means of escape, is about to break apart — the escape isn't going to work.
Jonas 1:5A striking contrast: the pagan sailors panic and cry out to their own gods, while Jonah, prophet of the true God, sleeps soundly below deck, oblivious to the crisis.
Jonas 1:6After fearing for their lives, the sailors go down to Jonah, who is asleep, and ask him to cry out to his God too, for the safety of everyone.
Jonas 1:7Casting lots was a common method at the time for discovering the divine will or finding someone guilty; the pagan sailors use this practice and end up landing, ironically, on exactly the right person.
Jonas 1:8After the lot falls on Jonah, the sailors bombard him with questions, trying to understand who this man is who brought the storm.
Jonas 1:9Jonah finally identifies himself, ironically claiming that he 'fears' the Lord right after having fled from Him — his words contradict his own actions.
Jonas 1:10On learning that Jonah was fleeing from the very God who controls the sea, the sailors grow even more terrified, realizing how serious the situation is.
Jonas 1:11With the storm getting worse, the sailors ask Jonah, the admitted culprit, what they need to do to save themselves.
Jonas 1:12Jonah takes responsibility and asks to be thrown into the sea, knowing that's the only way the storm will stop — a gesture that sounds almost suicidal.
Jonas 1:13Before agreeing to throw Jonah overboard, the sailors try everything to row back to land, showing they didn't want to kill anyone without cause.
Jonas 1:14Before acting, the pagan sailors cry out to Jonah's God, asking not to be held guilty for his death — a surprising respect for life, even in the midst of desperation.
Jonas 1:15As soon as they throw Jonah into the sea, the storm stops immediately, confirming that he himself was the cause of the problem.
Jonas 1:16The miracle of the storm stopping leads the pagan sailors to fear and worship the God of Israel — an unexpected conversion in the middle of the story.
Jonas 1:17The 'great fish' is the story's most famous element; the book is a short narrative full of irony, and this detail works within the story as the means God uses to put Jonah back on course, without the text going into zoological detail.