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Jonah 1:7–10, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Jonah 1:7–10
The Lot, Jonah's Confession, and the Sailors' Fear
The lot falls on Jonah; questions come before punishment
They say, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. The lot fell upon Jonah. Then they ask what he does, where he comes from, what his country is, and of what people he is.
In this story the lot identifies Jonah. The scene does not authorize lots as a modern guilt-detection method, a church-discipline tool, or a way to pick a scapegoat in a family, workplace, or nation.
He confesses the Maker of the sea while trying to escape by sea
He says, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
Hebrew identity is self-description, not the cause of the storm. True words about the Creator sit beside contradictory flight. Saying I fear the LORD is not the same as obeying him.
How this should shape us
Do not use chance, games, or spiritualized lots to assign blame. Examine where your public creed and your actual direction part company, then repair the gap.
Teach it back
Explain Jonah 1:7–10 in your own words. Include the scene's movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, and one misuse the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Some readings treat Jonah's 'I fear' as sincere confession, others as ironic self-exposure, and others as both true and compromised. The clearest conclusion is the narrative contradiction between his words and flight.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Jonah 1:7–10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew forms, morphology, repeated roots, clause relationships, names, and the base wording behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jonah.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:7–10
Supports: Material lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, seafaring, city, repentance, and divine-relenting notes within the unit.
NET Bible Jonah PDF, printed pp. 1728–1732, translation and translator notes on 1:7–10
Supports: Current critical literary framing, section scope, and exposed summary claims; no unexposed paywalled detail is attributed.
Niditch, Jonah: A Commentary, JSTOR record and exposed section summary for pp. 38–52, section Jonah 1:4–16
Supports: Whole-book structure, genre and historicity survey, insider-outsider dynamics, social-value analysis, and stated cautions about Nineveh size and population claims.
Schader, doctoral thesis, pp. 246–251 (Jonah 1 structure) and 335–336 (sailors and Ninevites in the social analysis)
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Jonah 1:7–10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Jonah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew forms, morphology, repeated roots, clause relationships, names, and the base wording behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jonah.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:7–10
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Jonah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Material lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, seafaring, city, repentance, and divine-relenting notes within the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible Jonah PDF, printed pp. 1728–1732, translation and translator notes on 1:7–10
Open source ↗modern critical commentary record
Jonah: A Commentary
Susan Niditch
Fortress Press, Hermeneia, 2023
Supports: Current critical literary framing, section scope, and exposed summary claims; no unexposed paywalled detail is attributed.
Exact location: Niditch, Jonah: A Commentary, JSTOR record and exposed section summary for pp. 38–52, section Jonah 1:4–16
Open source ↗open access doctoral thesis
A literary-exegetical and social-scientific analysis of the book of Jonah: an exposition of its ancient social values
Jo-Mari Schader
University of Pretoria, 2016
Supports: Whole-book structure, genre and historicity survey, insider-outsider dynamics, social-value analysis, and stated cautions about Nineveh size and population claims.
Exact location: Schader, doctoral thesis, pp. 246–251 (Jonah 1 structure) and 335–336 (sailors and Ninevites in the social analysis)
Open source ↗