And the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they threw the {contents} that were in the merchant ship into the sea to lighten it for them. And [meanwhile] Jonah went down into the hold of the vessel and lay down and fell asleep.

And they said {to one another}, "Come, let us cast lots so that we may know on whose account this disaster [has come] on us!" And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

So they said to him, "Please tell us whoever [is responsible that] this disaster [has come] upon us! What [is] your occupation? And from where do you come? What [is] your country? And from which people [are] you?"

Then the men {were greatly afraid}, and they said to him, "What [is] this you have done?" because they knew that he [was] fleeing {from the presence of} Yahweh (because he had told them).

So they said to him, "What shall we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us?" because the sea {was growing more and more tempestuous}.

But the men rowed [hard] to bring [the ship] back to the dry land, and they could not [do so] because the sea {was growing more and more tempestuous} against them.

So they cried out to Yahweh, and they said, "O Yahweh! Please do not let us perish because of this man's life, and {do not make us guilty of innocent blood}, because you, O Yahweh, did what you wanted."

And they picked Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

So the men feared Yahweh {greatly}, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and {made} vows.

And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth--from the greatest of them {to the least important}.

And he had a proclamation made, and said, "In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles: "No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water!

And [the] human beings and [the] animals must be covered [with] sackcloth! And they must call forcefully to God, and each must turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

And God saw their deeds--that they turned from their evil ways--and God changed his mind about the evil that he had said [he would] bring upon them, and he did not do [it].