So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your gods! Maybe the gods will notice us, so that we won't perish."
What the captain hoped Jonah’s God would do, He did. He is the only true God, and He does show concern for people (cf. Jonah 4:2; Jonah 4:11). This demonstration of Yahweh’s concern for people in danger is one of the great themes of this book. God showed compassion for the Ninevites and later for Jonah, but Jonah showed little compassion for the Ninevites, for these sailors, or even for himself.