1Now Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.
4But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. 5Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship and he was laying down, and was fast asleep. 6So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
7They all said to each other, “Come! Let’s cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8Then 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?”
9He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
10Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them. 11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.
12He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.”
13Nevertheless 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. 14Therefore they cried to Yahweh, and said, “We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, don’t let us die for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased you.” 15So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging. 16Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows.
17Yahweh prepared a huge fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Joppa is a small port city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel that was allotted to Dan (Josh 19:46) It was known as “the gate of Jaffa” in the Egyptian El-Amarna letters correspondence of the fourteenth century BC in the El-Amarna letters and was Israel's main port until the construction of Herod's artificial port at Caesarea.
Here Solomon imported lumber from Tyre to build the temple (and his palace; see also Ezra 3:7). From Joppa, Jonah set sail for Tarshish, going west instead of east, fleeing the call of God for the Gentiles. Here is where Peter received that same message while on Simon the Tanner’s roof in Joppa: that God cares about the Gentiles and has declared Gentiles as “pure” (Acts 10). Peter had to be reminded that while “menu” had ritually pure and impure distinctions, “man” was created in the image of God and was not to be considered “unclean” (Acts 10:28,34-45; footnote: Chris Miller, "Did Peter's Vision in Acts 10 Pertain to Men or the Menu?" Bibliotheca Sacra 159 [2002]). Apparently, the traditional house of Simon the Tanner was occupied in the late 1990s by a Muslim[1] family and is not open to the public.
Earlier, Judah the Maccabean had taken the city after 200 Jews were drowned (2 Macc 12:3ff) and Peter here raised Dorcas to life (Acts 9:36). Excavations have revealed an ancient Egyptian gate (14th century), as well as domestic architecture from the Hellenistic and Roman period, housed in the underground Jaffa Museum.
[1]There may be a discrepancy since another source indicated that it has been occupied by an Armenian family named Zakaria for generations.