Jonah 1:6

The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The ship’s captain approaches the sleeping prophet Jonah below deck during a storm and commands him to wake and pray. The text places this confrontation at the moment the sailors are actively trying to survive while Jonah remains unconscious in the hold.

The words — The Hebrew קוּם (kum) means "arise" or "get up," and נִרְדָּם (nir.Dam) describes a deep, heavy sleep. These terms emphasize the physical and spiritual contrast between the captain’s urgency and Jonah’s inaction.

The thread — The sailors’ plea for divine intervention follows the pattern of desperate prayer recorded in Psalms 107:28 and anticipates the same conditional hope voiced in Jonah 3:9. The narrative also parallels the pattern of urgent supplication during calamity found in 2 Samuel 12:22.

Why it lands — The text presents a commander demanding spiritual accountability from a passive prophet during a life-threatening crisis. It forces a reader to confront the practical consequences of remaining unresponsive when others are actively seeking deliverance.

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

וַיִּקְרַ֤בva/i.yik.Ravand/ he drew near אֵלָיו֙'e.La/vto/ him רַ֣בrav[the] chief of הַחֹבֵ֔לha./cho.Velthe/ sailor[s]וַיֹּ֥אמֶרva/i.Yo.merand/ he saidל֖וֹl/oto <the>/ himמַה־mah-what?לְּךָ֣le./Kha[is] to <the>/ youנִרְדָּ֑םnir.Damsleeping ק֚וּםkumarise קְרָ֣אke.Ra'call אֶל־'el-to אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ'e.lo.Hei./khagod/ your אוּלַ֞י'u.Laiperhaps יִתְעַשֵּׁ֧תyit.'a.Shethe will give thought הָאֱלֹהִ֛יםha./'E.lo.Himthe/ godלָ֖נוּLa./nuto <the>/ usוְלֹ֥אve./Lo'and/ not נֹאבֵֽד׃no.Vedwe will perish

King James Version

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

Cross-references

Psalms 107:28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress.
Jonah 3:9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
2 Samuel 12:22 David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’
Mark 4:37 Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped.
Ephesians 5:14 So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Psalms 107:12 He humbled their hearts with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
Amos 5:15 Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Psalms 78:34 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
Psalms 107:6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.