Jonah 1:5
“Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The terrified sailors pray to their gods and throw cargo overboard, while Jonah sleeps in the hold below.
What Does Jonah 1:5 Mean?
The pagan sailors do everything reasonable men can do: they pray, each to his own god, and they lighten the ship by throwing the cargo into the sea. Their fear is honest and their effort sincere. Meanwhile Jonah, the one man who knows the true God, has gone down into the depths of the ship and fallen fast asleep. The contrast is sharp and deliberate.
There is a strange sleep that can come over us when we are running from God, a numbness that looks like peace but is really avoidance. While strangers cry out for their lives, the prophet is silent and unconscious below. Yet even this picture holds hope, for the sleeper will be wakened. God's purposes are not undone by our drowsiness. The story gently asks where we are in the storm, whether crying out in honest need like the sailors or asleep to a call we would rather not hear.
In the Original Language
radam (רָדַם), 'fast asleep' -- denotes a heavy, deathlike sleep, the same deep sleep that fell on Adam, picturing how far Jonah has withdrawn from the crisis around him.