Jonah and the Big Fish Story - Bible

God spoke to a man named Jonah. He said, 'Go to the great city of Nineveh. Tell the people there that I have seen how evil they are.'

But Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. He hated the people there because they were enemies of Israel. Instead of obeying God, Jonah ran away. He went to the city of Joppa and found a ship going to a faraway city called Tarshish. He paid the fare and got on the ship.

Then the Lord sent a great wind over the sea. The storm was so strong that the ship was ready to break apart. The sailors were very afraid. Each one cried out to his own god. They threw the cargo into the sea to make the ship lighter.

Jonah had gone down into the lowest part of the ship. He was lying there, sound asleep. The captain found him and said, 'How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will save us.'

The sailors said to each other, 'Let's throw dice to find out who caused this trouble.' The dice showed that Jonah was the one. They asked him, 'What did you do? Where do you come from? What people do you belong to?'

Jonah answered, 'I am a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.'

The sailors were very scared. They asked, 'What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?'

Jonah said, 'Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then it will become calm. I know that this terrible storm is my fault.'

The men tried hard to row back to land, but they could not. The sea was getting worse. So they cried out to the Lord, 'Please do not let us die because of this man's life. You are the Lord. You have done as you pleased.'

Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea. The storm stopped immediately. The men were very afraid of the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to Him and made promises.

The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord. He said, 'I called to the Lord in my trouble, and He answered me. I was thrown into the deep sea. The water was all around me. But you brought my life up from the pit. I will give sacrifices to you. I will keep my promises. Salvation comes from the Lord!'

Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and the fish spit Jonah out onto dry land. The Lord spoke to Jonah again. He said, 'Go to the great city of Nineveh. Tell the people the message I give you.'

This time, Jonah obeyed. He went to Nineveh. It was a very large city. It took three days just to walk through it. Jonah started going through the city. On the first day, he shouted, 'Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!'

The people of Nineveh believed God. They decided to stop eating. They put on sackcloth, which was rough, scratchy cloth that showed they were sorry. Everyone from the greatest to the least did this.

Even the king of Nineveh heard the news. He got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, and put on sackcloth. He sat down in the dust. He made a law that said, 'Do not let any person or animal eat or drink anything. Let everyone call out to God. Let them turn from their evil ways. Who knows? God might change His mind and not destroy us.'

God saw what the people did. He saw that they stopped doing evil. So He changed His mind and did not destroy them.

But Jonah was very angry. He said, 'Lord, I knew you would do this! You are a kind and merciful God. You are slow to get angry. You are full of love. You are always ready to change your mind and not punish people. That is why I ran away to Tarshish. Now please just let me die.'

The Lord said, 'Is it right for you to be angry?'

Jonah went out of the city and made a shelter to sit in the shade. He wanted to see what would happen to the city. The Lord made a plant grow up over Jonah. It gave him shade and made him more comfortable. Jonah was very happy about the plant.

But the next morning, God sent a worm to eat the plant. It died. Then God sent a hot east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah's head until he felt faint. He wanted to die again.

God said to Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?'

Jonah said, 'Yes! I am so angry I could die!'

The Lord said, 'You cared about this plant. You did not make it grow or take care of it. It grew up in one night and died the next night. So shouldn't I care about the great city of Nineveh? There are 120,000 people there who do not know right from wrong. There are also many animals.'

Jonah learned that God loves all people, even enemies. God wants everyone to turn from their bad ways and be saved. No one is outside of God's love and mercy.

The Jonah and the Big Fish story teaches obedience and repentance. It shows that it is never too late to follow the right path. This story highlights mercy and second chances.