Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Jonah 1:5

5. mariners were afraid--though used to storms; the danger therefore must have been extreme.

cried every man unto his god--The idols proved unable to save them, though each, according to Phoenician custom, called on his tutelary god. But Jehovah proved able: and the heathen sailors owned it in the end by sacrificing to Him (Jon 1:16).

into the sides--that is, the interior recesses (compare 1Sa 24:3; Is 14:13, 15). Those conscious of guilt shrink from the presence of their fellow man into concealment.

fast asleep--Sleep is no necessary proof of innocence; it may be the fruit of carnal security and a seared conscience. How different was Jesus' sleep on the Sea of Galilee! (Mr 4:37-39). Guilty Jonah's indifference to fear contrasts with the unoffending mariners' alarm. The original therefore is in the nominative absolute: "But as for Jonah, he," &c. Compare spiritually, Ep 5:14.