Jonah 1:8 (WEB)

Passage

Then 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?”

Nearby Context

Jonah 1:6 So 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.”

Jonah 1:7 They all said to each other, “Come, let us 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.

Jonah 1:8 Then 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?”

Jonah 1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”

Jonah 1:10 Then 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "asked", "tell", "please", "whose", "cause", "evil", "occupation", and "where". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "asked" and "tell", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "They all said to each other Come..." into verse 9's "He said to them I am a...", so "asked" and "tell" belong inside that flow. In Jonah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "asked" and "tell" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.