Jonah and the Big Fish
Jonah 1 to 3
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God said to Jonah, go to Nineveh.
Tell them to stop being unkind.
Jonah did not want to go.
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God gave Jonah a job. Go to the great city of Nineveh, he said, and tell the people there to stop the cruel things they are doing. Jonah did not want to. He did not like the people of Nineveh, and if he was honest, he did not want God being kind to them either.
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So Jonah went the other way.
He got on a boat sailing far away.
He went down below and fell asleep.
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So Jonah went down to the harbour and found a ship going in exactly the opposite direction, and he paid the fare and got on board. Then he went below deck, lay down, and fell fast asleep. He thought that if he could not see the job, the job was not his any more.
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A great storm came.
The sailors were frightened.
This is my fault, said Jonah.
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Out at sea a wind came up and the waves grew huge, and the sailors threw the cargo overboard and shouted to their gods and still the ship was breaking apart. They woke Jonah. And Jonah told them the truth. This storm is because of me, he said. Throw me into the sea, and it will go quiet.
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They put Jonah into the sea.
The storm stopped at once.
Then a very big fish swallowed him whole.
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They did not want to do it, and they tried to row for shore first, and in the end they lowered him over the side. The sea went still that very moment. And Jonah went down into the dark water, and God sent an enormous fish, and it swallowed him whole.
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Jonah was inside the fish for three days.
It was dark and strange and quiet.
And in there, Jonah prayed.
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Three days and three nights he was in there, in the dark, in the strangest place anyone has ever been. And that is where Jonah finally talked to God. He said sorry. He said thank you for not letting go of me. And on the third day the fish put him out on dry land.
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God said again, go to Nineveh.
This time Jonah went.
The whole city listened and changed.
And God forgave them.
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Then God said the same thing he had said at the beginning. Go to Nineveh. And this time Jonah got up and went. He walked into the great city and told them, and to everybody's surprise, including Jonah's, they listened. From the king down to the smallest child, they were sorry, and God forgave the lot of them.
