The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amathi: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach in it, for its wickedness has come before Me.”
And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And he came to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare and entered it to sail with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord raised up a strong wind on the sea, and a great storm arose on the sea, and the ship was ready to break. And the shipmen were afraid, and each cried out to his god, and began to throw the luggage from the ship into the sea in order to lighten it from it. Jonah went down into the interior of the ship, lay down and fell fast asleep.
And the captain of the ship came to him and said to him:
- Why are you sleeping? Arise, call upon your God. Maybe God will remember us and we will not perish.
And they said to each other:
“Let’s go and cast lots to find out for whom this misfortune befalls us.”
And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they told him:
- Tell us, for whom did this misfortune befall us? What is your occupation and where are you coming from? Where is your country and what people are you from?
And he said to them:
- I am a Jew, I honor the Lord God of heaven, who created the sea and dry land.
And the people were afraid with great fear and said to him:
- Why did you do this? - for these people knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, as he himself had declared to them.
And they said to him:
- What should you and I do to make the sea calm down for us? - for the sea did not cease to worry.
Then he said to them:
“Take me and throw me into the sea, and the sea will calm down for you, for I know that for my sake this great storm has befallen you.”
But these people began to row hard to get to the ground, but they could not, because the sea continued to rage against them. Then they cried to the Lord and said:
“We pray to You, Lord, that we may not perish for the soul of this man, and may you not impute innocent blood to us.” For You, Lord, have done whatever pleased You!
And they took Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea subsided from its fury. And these people feared the Lord with great fear, and made a sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows.
And the Lord commanded the great whale to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the whale and said:
“I cried out to the Lord in my sorrow, and He heard me; from the belly of hell I cried, and You heard my voice. You cast me into the depths, into the heart of the sea, and the streams surrounded me, all Your waters and Your waves passed over me. And I said: “I have been cast away from Thy eyes, yet again I will see Thy holy temple.” The waters embraced me to my soul, the abyss shut me in; My head was entwined with sea grass. I descended to the base of the mountains, the earth blocked me with its barriers forever. But You, Lord my God, will bring my soul out of hell. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer reached You, to Your holy temple. Those who worship vain and false gods have abandoned their Merciful One, and with the voice of praise I will offer You a sacrifice; I will fulfill what I promised: salvation belongs to the Lord!
And the Lord spoke to the whale, and it cast Jonah onto dry land.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru