Jonah 1:14

The sailors also voiced their belief in God’s sovereignty, which Jonah had denied by his behavior. They requested physical deliverance and forgiveness from guilt since they anticipated that Jonah would die because of their act. They believed that God’s sovereignty was so strongly obvious that He might forgive them. Jonah’s innocent death seemed inevitable to them try as they did to avoid it. Still they could not be sure that they were doing God’s will and feared that He might punish them for taking the life of His servant. From their viewpoint Jonah was innocent (Heb. naqi) of death because he had not committed any of the crimes for which people suffered death at the hands of their fellowmen. Yet nothing less than death was what he deserved for sinning against God (Ezekiel 18:4; Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 6:23).