Bible Strands

Jonah 1:11

Now the sea was growing worse and worse, so they said to Jonah, “What must we do to you to calm this sea for us?”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The sailors address Jonah while the storm intensifies around their vessel. They ask him for the specific action required to stop the sea from destroying them.

The words — מַה־ נַּ֣עֲשֶׂה (mah- na'aseh) translates literally as “what shall we do?” and frames their crisis as a demand for necessary action. וְ/יִשְׁתֹּ֥ק (ve/yishtok) means “so it may be calm,” indicating their explicit request for the storm to cease.

The thread — This formulaic crisis inquiry appears when others face divine disruption, as recorded in 1 Samuel 6:2 and 2 Samuel 21:1. It tracks the biblical pattern of seeking direction when human control fails.

Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that survival may require surrendering control to the one who triggered the crisis. It forces the reader to confront the cost of disobedience and the necessity of decisive action.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַיֹּאמְר֤וּva/i.yo.me.Ruand/ they saidאֵלָיו֙'e.La/vto/ himמַה־mah-what?נַּ֣עֲשֶׂהNa.'a.sehwill we doלָּ֔ךְLa/khto <the>/ youוְיִשְׁתֹּ֥קve./yish.Tokso/ it may be calmהַיָּ֖םhai./Yamthe/ seaמֵֽעָלֵ֑ינוּme./'a.Lei./nufrom/ on <the>/ usכִּ֥יkiforהַיָּ֖םhai./Yamthe/ seaהוֹלֵ֥ךְho.Lekh[was] goingוְסֹעֵֽר׃ve./so.'Erand/ storming

King James Version

Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.

Cross-references