Jonah

The LORD sends Jonah to preach against wicked Nineveh, but he boards a ship to Tarshish to flee. A divinely-sent storm threatens all, casting-lots reveal Jonah’s guilt; at his request sailors hurl him overboard, the sea calms, and they worship Yahweh. Jonah is swallowed by a great fish prepared by God, where he remains three days and three nights.

Inside the fish Jonah prays a psalm of thanksgiving: he recalls sinking to the depths, acknowledges God’s rescue, renounces worthless idols, and vows to keep his vows. At the LORD’s command the fish vomits Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah receives the commission a second time, goes to Nineveh, and proclaims, “Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” From king to commoner, the Assyrians believe God, fast, wear sackcloth, and turn from evil. Seeing their repentance, God relents and spares the city.

Jonah is furious at God’s mercy. Outside the city he builds a shelter; God grows a plant to shade him, delighting Jonah, then sends a worm to kill it and a scorching east wind. God confronts Jonah: if he pities a perishing plant, should not God pity the 120,000-plus people (and cattle) of Nineveh? The book ends with that probing question about divine compassion.