Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.

They all said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is on us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they asked him, "Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?"

Then said they to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?" For the sea grew more and more stormy.

Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.

Therefore they cried to the LORD, and said, "We beg you, LORD, we beg you, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood; for you, LORD, have done as it pleased you."

So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging.

Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and made vows.

The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he did not do it.