Jonas 1

BLIVRE · Chapter 1/4

¹E veio a palavra do SENHOR a Jonas, filho de Amitai, dizendo:

²Levanta-te, vai à grande cidade de Nínive, e prega contra ela; porque sua maldade subiu diante de mim.

³Porém Jonas se levantou para fugir da presença do SENHOR a Társis, e desceu a Jope; e achou um navio que partia para Társis. Então pagou sua passagem e entrou nele, para ir com eles a Társis [a fim de se distanciar] do SENHOR.

⁴Mas o SENHOR fez levantar um grande vento no mar; e fez-se uma tempestade tão grande no mar, que o navio estava a ponto de se quebrar.

⁵Então os marinheiros tiveram medo, e cada um clamava a seu deus; e lançaram no mar os objetos que havia no navio, para com eles diminuir o peso. Jonas, porém, havia descido ao interior do navio, e se pôs a dormir profundamente.

⁶E o capitão do navio se aproximou dele, e lhe disse: Que há contigo, dorminhoco? Levanta-te, e clama a teu deus; talvez ele se lembre de nós, para que não pereçamos.

⁷E disseram cada um a seu companheiro: Vinde, e lancemos sortes, para sabermos por causa de quem este mal [veio] sobre nós. Então lançaram sortes, e a sorte caiu sobre Jonas.

⁸Então eles lhe disseram: Conta-nos, por favor, por que nos este mal nos [veio] . Qual é a tua profissão, e de onde vens? Qual é a tua terra, e de que povo és?

⁹E ele lhes respondeu: Sou hebreu, e temo ao SENHOR, o Deus dos céu, que fez o mar e a terra.

¹⁰Então aqueles homens tiveram um grande medo, e lhe disseram: Por que fizeste isto? Pois aqueles homens sabiam que ele estava fugindo do SENHOR, porque ele já havia lhes dito.

¹¹Então lhe disseram: O que faremos contigo, para que o mar se nos aquiete?Porque o mar cada vez mais se embravecia.

¹²E ele lhes respondeu: Tomai-me, e lançai-me ao mar, e o mar se vos aquietará; porque eu sei que foi por minha causa que esta grande tempestade [veio] sobre vós.

¹³Mas os homens se esforçavam para remar, tentando voltar à terra firme; porém não conseguiam, porque o mar cada vez mais se embravecia sobre eles.

¹⁴Então clamaram ao SENHOR, e disseram: Ó SENHOR, nós te pedimos para não perecermos por causa da alma deste homem, nem ponhas sangue inocente sobre nós; porque, tu, SENHOR, fizeste como te agradou.

¹⁵Então tomaram a Jonas, e o lançaram ao mar; e o mar se aquietou de seu furor.

¹⁶Por isso aqueles homens temeram ao SENHOR [com] grande temor; e ofereceram sacrifício ao SENHOR, e prometeram votos.

¹⁷Mas o SENHOR havia preparado um grande peixe para que tragasse a Jonas; e Jonas esteve três dias e três noites no ventre 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.