But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.
"So that the ship was like to be broken ..." Some of the old versions translate this, "So that the ship thought to be dashed to pieces."[25]  Such expressions were sometimes used of inanimate things; and this one has the exact meaning of that given in our text.  The ship was in dire straits, and was threatened every moment by complete destruction.  It was not evidently the time of the year when such storms were expected, else the ship would not have been bound for Tarshish at all; and the sailors immediately attributed the violent and unusual storm to the wrath of "some god," as they supposed, having no knowledge whatever of the one true God.