Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
and cast forth the wares that [were] in the ship into the sea, to lighten [it] of them; or, "the vessels" c, a word the Hebrews use for all sorts of goods, utensils, c. it includes, with others, their military weapons they had to defend themselves, their provisions, the ship's stores or goods it was freighted with finding their prayers to their gods were ineffectual, they betook themselves to this prudential method to lighten the ship, that they might be able to keep its head above water. So the Targum,