So the captain came to him, and said unto him, What mean you, O sleeper? arise, call upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
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Jerome
AD 420
LXX: "and the helmsman come to him and he said to him, what are you doing sleeping? Get up, and call upon your God. If he can find a way to save us then we may not die. It is natural that each one has more confidence in someone else when they feel themselves to be in such danger. This is why the helmsman or captain, who should have been encouraging the frightened crewmembers, but saw the seriousness of the danger, woke and reprimanded the sleeper for his thoughtless security and asked him to pray to his God immediately. He shared everyone's danger, and therefore he had to pray along with everyone else. According to tropology there are many men sailing with Jonah, who each have their own God and hasten towards the 'contemplation of joy'. But when Jonah has been discovered by chance and his death has appeased the all-encompassing storm and made calm the waters, then the one God is revered and spiritual victims are sacrificed, which according to the text were not found when they were amongst the waves.
