Once upon a time there was a man named Jonah. Jonah loved God and often listened to what God told him. But one day, God gave Jonah a difficult task. God said, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and tell the people to stop evil.” But Jonah was afraid. He didn’t want to go there, because he knew that the people of Nineveh were not nice.
So Jonah decided to run away. He got on a large ship that was going in a completely different direction. Jonah thought he could hide from God! But that was not the case. God sent a great storm upon the sea. The waves were wild, and the ship wobbled back and forth. The sailors were very frightened and cried loudly to their gods for help. But that didn’t help.
Finally, they found Jonah sleeping below deck, and they asked him, “Why are you sleeping? Pray to your God to help us!” Jonah knew the storm was coming because he had run away. So he told them, “Throw me into the sea, and the storm will stop.” The sailors did not want to do that, but the storm grew stronger. Finally, they threw Jonah into the sea.
Suddenly the storm stopped, and the sea became still. Jonah sank deeper and deeper into the water. Then God sent a big fish that swallowed Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. There he prayed to God and said, “Thank you for saving me! I promise you to fulfill your mission.”
Then God commanded the fish to bring Jonah ashore, and the fish spat out Jonah. Jonah was now ready to obey. He went to Nineveh and told the people there, “Stop doing evil. Otherwise your city will be destroyed!”
The people of Nineveh listened to Jonah. They wanted to change and do things better. God saw this and had compassion on them. He did not destroy the city.
But Jonah was sad and angry about it. He did not want God to forgive people. Then God told Jonah: “I love the people and the animals in Nineveh. I’m happy that they have changed.”
Message of history
God is happy to forgive us if we are serious and want to change. God loves us all very much and is always ready to help us.
Bible passage
The story of Jonah and the big fish spans the entire book of Jonah, chapters 1 to 4. Here are the relevant verses in the Schlachter 2000 translation:
Jonah 1:1-17:
“And the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise and go to Nineveh the great city, and tell her that her wickedness has come up before me.’ But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish, away from the face of the Lord. And he went down to Jafo, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went in to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. Then the Lord let loose a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, so that it was thought that the ship would break. And the sailors were afraid, and they cried out, each one to his God, and threw the implements that were in the ship into the sea, to make it easier. Jonah, however, had descended into the lowest hold of the ship, lay down and slept. Then the captain of the ship came to him and said, “What is the matter with you, that you are sleeping?” Arise, call on your God! Perhaps this God remembers us so that we do not perish! And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose sake this calamity befalls us.” And when they cast the lots, the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us for whose sake this calamity befalls us.” What is your business, and where do you come from? What is your country, and what people are you from? He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were terrified and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men learned that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord; for he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do with you, so that the sea may be calm and leave us?” Because the sea was becoming more and more impetuous. And he said to them, “Take me and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm and leave you; for I know that for my sake this great storm has come upon you. But the people rowed to reach the shore again; but they could not, because the sea was crashing against them more and more violently. Then they cried out to the Lord, saying, “O Lord, let us not perish for the sake of this man’s life, and do not lay innocent blood on us.” For you, O Lord, have done what was pleasing to you. And they took Jonah and threw him into the sea; then the sea ceased its rage. And the men feared the Lord very much, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord ordered a great fish to devour Jonah; and Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.”
Jonah 2:1-11:
“And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God in the belly of the fish, saying, I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and he heard me. From the bosom of the dead I cried, and you heard my voice. You had thrown me into the depths, into the middle of the sea, so that the current washed around me; all your waves and waves passed over me. And I said, “I am banished from your eyes; yet I will continue to look after your holy temple. The waters surrounded me and threatened to take my life, the deep surrounded me; Reeds encircled my head. I sank down to the depths of the mountains, the earth with its bars closed behind me for ever; but you have brought my life out of the pit, O Lord my God! When my soul fainted in me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you in your holy temple. The worshippers of vain idols forsake their grace; but I will offer you thanks with a loud voice; whatever I have vowed, I will pay: with the Lord is salvation. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and he spat Jonah on land.”
Jonah 3:1-10:
“And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to her the message that I will tell you.’ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Nineveh, however, was a very large city before God, three days’ journey in size. And Jonah began to walk a day’s journey into the city; and he preached and said, “Another forty days, and Nineveh will be destroyed.” Then the people of Nineveh believed in God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth all of them, from the greatest to the smallest. And when the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his cloak, wrapped himself in sackcloth, and sat down in the ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and said in Nineveh, by the command of the king and his nobles, “Neither men nor cattle, neither cattle nor sheep shall eat anything, they shall not be grazed, and they shall not drink water; but men and beasts shall wrap themselves in sackcloth and cry out to God with all their might, that each one may turn from his evil way and from the iniquity that clings to his hands. Who knows, God could repent and repent, and He could let go of His fierce wrath so that we do not perish! But when God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened them, and he did not do it.”
Jonah 4:1-11:
“But Jonah was completely displeased with this, and he was inflamed with anger. And he prayed to the Lord, saying, “Ah, Lord, was this not my speech when I was in my own land?” That is why I wanted to flee first to Tarshish; for I knew that you were a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, of great grace, and one who repented of evil. And now, O Lord, take my soul from me; for it is better that I die than that I live! Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah had gone out of the city and sat down east of the city. There he made himself a hut and sat down under it until he saw what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God appointed a castor bean bush, which grew up over Jonah, that it might give shade over his head and free him from his bad temper. And Jonah was very happy about the castor. But the next day, when the dawn was rising, God ordered a worm to prickle the castor so that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun was rising, that God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun stung Jonah on the head, so that he became quite faint; and he wished for death, saying, “It is better that I die than that I live.” Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right that you are angry because of the castor? And he answered, “I am rightly angry unto death.” Then the Lord said, “You have compassion on the castor, which you have not labored for, and which you have not raised, which was born in one night and perished in one night, and I should have no compassion on the great city of Nineveh, where there are more than 120,000 people who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left. plus many animals?”
