Jonah
The prophet who ran away
This story includes a violent storm, and Jonah saying he wants to die.
Two things you can tap
- A verse number shows the Bible’s exact words.
- An underlined word shows what it means.
Story
What happened?
Tap a verse number, like , to read the Bible’s exact words.
Who’s who and what came beforePeople, places, and the story so far. Open it anytime.
Scene Card
Cast
- Jonah: A prophet from Israel, the son of Amittai. A prophet is someone God sends to speak God's message.
- The LORD: God. LORD in capital letters stands for God's personal name. Jewish readers traditionally don't say it aloud, out of respect.
- The sailors: The crew of a ship going to Tarshish. Each one prayed to his own god.
- The captain: The man in charge of the ship.
- The king of Nineveh: The ruler of a huge city in Assyria, an enemy of Israel.
Setting
- A ship on the Mediterranean Sea. Then the great city of Nineveh, in what is now northern Iraq.
When
- About 2,800 years ago.
Before the Story
Jonah is a prophet. God gives him messages to speak.
Nineveh is Israel's enemy. It is the capital of Assyria, a strong and cruel empire.
God has a job for Jonah. Go to Nineveh and warn it.
Here's what you know that almost nobody in this story knows: Jonah already knows how this might end. He tells us why he ran away near the end of the book (4:2).
Map of the Story
| Scene | Verses | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Jonah runs | 1:1-3 | God sends Jonah east. Jonah sails west |
| 2. The storm | 1:4-6 | A storm hits. Jonah is asleep |
| 3. Who is to blame? | 1:7-10 | The sailors find out Jonah is running from God |
| 4. Into the sea | 1:11-16 | The sailors throw Jonah overboard. The sea goes calm |
| 5. Inside the fish | 1:17-2:10 | Jonah prays from inside a great fish |
| 6. A second chance | 3:1-4 | God sends Jonah again. This time he goes |
| 7. The city turns around | 3:5-10 | Nineveh is sorry. God does not destroy it |
| 8. Jonah is angry | 4:1-4 | Jonah is upset that God forgave Nineveh |
| 9. The plant and the worm | 4:5-9 | God gives Jonah shade, then takes it away |
| 10. God's question | 4:10-11 | God asks Jonah a question. The book ends |
Plain Retelling
Scene 1 of 10Jonah Runs
The LORD spoke to Jonah. God told him to go to Nineveh, a huge city far to the east.
God said the people of Nineveh had become very wicked. Jonah was to preach against the city.
Jonah got up. But he went the other way.
He went down to Joppa, a port town by the sea. He found a ship going to Tarshish, a faraway place in the west. Jonah paid the fare and climbed aboard. He was trying to get away from the LORD.
Scene 2 of 10The Storm
Then the LORD sent a great wind over the sea. A violent storm hit. The ship was close to breaking apart.
The sailors were terrified. Each one cried out to his own god. They threw the cargo into the sea to make the ship lighter.
Jonah was not on deck. He had gone down to the lowest part of the ship. He was fast asleep.
The captain found him. "How can you sleep?" the captain asked. "Get up and call on your God. Maybe your God will notice us, and we won't die."
Scene 3 of 10Who Is to Blame?
The sailors decided to cast lots. Casting lots meant throwing marked stones or sticks to choose someone. They believed it would show who caused the storm.
The lot fell on Jonah.
The sailors asked him question after question. Who was to blame? What was his job? Where was he from? Who were his people?
Jonah said he was a Hebrew. Then he said, "I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land" (1:9).
Think about what Jonah just said. His God made the sea. And Jonah was trying to escape that God by sea.
The sailors grew even more afraid. Jonah had already told them he was running from the LORD. "What have you done?" they asked.
Scene 4 of 10Into the Sea
The sea kept getting worse. The sailors asked Jonah what they should do to calm it.
Jonah told them to throw him into the sea. He said the storm was his fault.
The sailors did not want to do it. They rowed hard to reach land. But the sea only got wilder.
So the sailors prayed to the LORD. They begged God not to blame them for Jonah's death.
Then they picked Jonah up and threw him overboard. Right away, the sea became calm.
At the start, each sailor prayed to his own god. Now they all worshiped the LORD. They offered a sacrifice and made promises to God.
Scene 5 of 10Inside the Fish
The LORD had sent a great fish. It swallowed Jonah. Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.
Inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD.
His prayer is a poem. He remembered sinking into the deep sea. Waves rolled over him. Seaweed wrapped around his head.
He said he sank down "to the roots of the mountains." This is poetry. It means he sank as low as a person can go.
But God heard him. "In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me" (2:2). Distress means deep trouble and fear.
Jonah ended his prayer with thanks. "Salvation is from the LORD!" (2:9). Salvation means being rescued.
Then the LORD spoke to the fish. The fish threw Jonah up onto dry land.
Halfway thereThis is a good place for a break. Your spot is saved on this device.
Scene 6 of 10A Second Chance
God spoke to Jonah a second time. The message was the same. Go to Nineveh.
This time, Jonah went.
Nineveh was enormous. It took about three days to go through it.
Jonah walked into the city for one day. Then he gave his message. "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!" (3:4). Overturned means destroyed.
That was the whole message. In our English Bible, it is only eight words long.
Scene 7 of 10The City Turns Around
The people of Nineveh believed God. Everyone stopped eating, from the most important person to the least.
They put on sackcloth. Sackcloth was rough cloth people wore to show they were sorry or sad.
The news reached the king. He stood up from his throne and took off his royal robe. He put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.
The king made a law for the whole city. No person or animal could eat or drink. Everyone had to pray hard to God. Everyone had to stop doing evil and violence.
The king said, "Who knows? God may turn and relent" (3:9). Relent means to change your mind and hold back.
God saw that they had turned from their evil ways. So God did not bring the disaster.
Scene 8 of 10Jonah Is Angry
You might expect Jonah to be happy. He was not. He was very upset, and he became angry.
Then Jonah told God why he had run away. "I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion" (4:2).
Gracious means giving good things people don't earn. Compassionate means caring about people who hurt.
Jonah did not run because he thought God was cruel. He ran because he knew God might forgive Nineveh.
Jonah was so angry that he asked God to let him die.
God answered with a question. "Have you any right to be angry?" (4:4).
Scene 9 of 10The Plant and the Worm
Jonah left the city. He sat down east of it and made a little shelter. He waited to see what would happen to Nineveh.
God made a leafy plant grow up over Jonah. It gave him shade. Jonah was very happy about the plant.
The next morning, God sent a worm. It chewed the plant, and the plant dried up.
Then God sent a hot east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah's head. He felt faint. Again he said he would rather die.
God asked if Jonah had a right to be angry about the plant. Jonah said yes. He said he was angry enough to die.
Scene 10 of 10God's Question
Then God explained. Jonah cared about the plant. But Jonah had not planted it or made it grow. It came up in one night and died in one night.
God asked, "So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?" (4:11).
"Cannot tell their right hand from their left" is a saying. One likely meaning: they did not know any better. It is not about people who mix up left and right.
The book ends there. We never hear Jonah's answer. The question is left for us.
Meaning
What does it mean?
Read It
What Does This Mean?
| The text says | It means |
|---|---|
| "Away from the presence of the LORD" (1:3) | Jonah tried to get as far from God's call as he could. He found out that was impossible. |
| "The LORD had appointed a great fish" (1:17) | God was in charge of the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm, and the wind. God kept sending things to reach Jonah. |
| "Salvation is from the LORD!" (2:9) | Only God can rescue. Jonah learned this in the fish. Nineveh learned it too. |
| "Gracious and compassionate... slow to anger" (4:2) | Jonah is repeating what God said about himself to Moses (Exodus 34:6). Jonah knew what God is like. He did not like who God was being kind to. |
| "Cannot tell their right hand from their left" (4:11) | A saying. One likely meaning: they did not know any better. It is not about people who mix up left and right. |
Back Then
Jonah was a prophet in Israel's history. He is also named in 2 Kings, during the time of King Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:25).
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. Assyria was a powerful empire and an enemy of Israel. Another prophet called Nineveh "the city of blood" (Nahum 3:1).
Tarshish was far to the west. Many scholars think it was in Spain. For Jonah, it was about as far from Nineveh as he could go. (Easton's Bible Dictionary)
Literal Reader Alert
Was it a whale? The Bible says "a great fish." Many people say whale. The Bible does not say what kind of sea creature it was.
Could a person live inside a fish? It's okay to notice things like this. Careful readers have asked about it for centuries. Some Christians read Jonah as history. Others read it as a true teaching story. Jesus talked about Jonah too (Matthew 12:40). Either way, the point is God's mercy.
Is it okay to be angry at God? You can tell God how you really feel. Many psalms do (Psalm 13:1-2). God did not push Jonah away for being angry. He kept talking with him.
Jonah asked to die. What does that mean? Jonah was in deep pain and anger. God did not leave him. God kept talking with him, gently, with questions. If you ever feel like Jonah did, please talk to someone you trust. If you are in danger right now, call 911 or your local emergency number. In the United States, you can also call or text 988 any time, day or night. Outside the United States, findahelpline.com lists free helplines.
How People Feel
| Who | Feeling | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Jonah | Unwilling | He did not want God to forgive Nineveh (4:2) |
| The sailors | Terrified | The storm was about to break their ship (1:5) |
| The sailors | Amazed | The sea went calm the moment Jonah went overboard (1:16) |
| Jonah | Thankful | God rescued him from drowning (2:9) |
| The people of Nineveh | Sorry | They believed God's warning (3:5) |
| Jonah | Angry | God forgave the city he wanted punished (4:1-2) |
| Jonah | Happy, then angry again | The plant gave him shade, then it died (4:6-9) |
For you
What does it mean for me?
Your Turn
Which part of Jonah's story feels most like yours? Tap one.
Running away
God went after Jonah, all the way into the sea. God does not give up on runaways.
Stuck in the deep
Jonah prayed from the bottom of the sea, and God heard him. You can pray from wherever you are.
Angry at God
Jonah told God exactly how he felt. God did not leave. He kept talking with him, gently.
Getting a second chance
God spoke to Jonah a second time. Second chances are how God works.
You Might Have Heard
"Jonah is about obeying God, or else."
What's true: Running from God did not work for Jonah.
What the story is mainly about: God's mercy. God gives Jonah a second chance. God saves sailors who did not know him. God forgives Israel's enemies. And God keeps talking gently with an angry prophet.
Where Jesus is: Jesus compared himself to Jonah. Jonah was in the fish for three days and three nights. Jesus would be in the grave, and on the third day he would rise (Matthew 12:40; Luke 11:29-32).
Good News
God does not give up on runaways. God does not give up on enemies. And God does not give up on people who are angry at him.
Jesus said he would be a sign like Jonah (Luke 11:30). Jonah went down into the sea. Jesus went down into death and rose again. So no one is too far gone for God to reach. God's mercy is bigger than our anger.
Big Idea
God chases a runaway prophet and shows mercy even to his enemies.
If this story brings up big feelings, talk with someone you trust, like a parent, pastor, or counselor.
For leaders and parentsLuther, church readings, and notes for teaching.
From Luther
Martin Luther wrote about Jonah in 1526 (Luther's Works, volume 19). He pointed to Jonah's prayer inside the fish. He said it shows how faith calls out to God even when everything looks lost.
In Church
Many churches follow a reading plan called the Revised Common Lectionary. It reads Jonah 3:1-5 and 3:10 on the Third Sunday after Epiphany in Year B. It reads Jonah 3:10 to 4:11 in mid to late September of Year A (Lectionary 25).
We quote Luther for what he got right about grace. He also wrote terrible things about Jewish people. Read our note on that.
Memorize
How do I keep it?
One line from this story to learn by heart. Practice a little now. It will come back later so it sticks.
Salvation is from the LORD!
How did that feel?