034 Jonah, the Prophet - A Bible Story for Children

Jonah 1-4

One day, God spoke to his prophet Jonah. "Go to Nineveh," he said, "and warn the people there that I will destroy them if they do not turn away from evil."

But Jonah did not want to go. "If I go to Nineveh and tell the people that God will destroy them," he thought, "they will turn away from evil. Then God will forgive them and save their city. Why should I make a long and tiresome journey when God plans to save Nineveh anyway?"

So Jonah decided to escape from the Lord. He went first to Joppa, and there boarded a ship headed for Tarshish. After the ship set sail, God sent a terrible storm. The waters rose so high the sailors thought the ship would break in two. They threw all their things overboard, and each man prayed to his own god to stop the storm.

The storm became wilder, and the sailors noticed that Jonah was not on deck with them. Finally they found him fast asleep in his cabin.

"How can you sleep when the ship is in trouble?" shouted the captain. "Get up on deck, and ask your God to help us."

So Jonah went up, but the storm continued to rage.

"Come," said the sailors, "let us draw lots to see who has brought this evil on us."

The lot fell to Jonah. "Who are you?" the sailors asked. "Where do come from?"

"I serve the Lord of Israel who made the sea and the dry land," answered Jonah. "I thought I could run away from him, but now I know I cannot. This storm is my fault. If you want to save your ship, you will have to throw me into the ocean."

The sailors did not want to throw Jonah overboard, and they rowed harder and harder. But it did no good. Finally there was nothing else they could do. Asking the Lord to forgive them, they tossed Jonah into the sea. The storm stopped almost immediately, and the boat made its way safely to Tarshish.

Jonah sank into the sea like a stone. But the Lord sent a great fish to wait for him, and it swallowed Jonah as he fell to the bottom of the sea. For three days and three nights, Jonah was trapped in the belly of the fish, alone and afraid. But still Jonah thanked God that he was alive. From the bottom of the sea, his prayers reached the Lord, who guided the fish toward land. There it coughed Jonah out onto dry land, alive and unhurt.

Then the Lord again told Jonah to go to Nineveh. So Jonah went, as the Lord had asked. With fiery words, he told the people of Nineveh that they had followed evil ways. In forty days, Jonah warned, God would destroy their city. The people of Nineveh saw the truth in Jonah's words, and turned away from evil and violence. When God saw this wonderful change in the city, he decided to spare it.

"Why did you bother to send me here if you knew you were going to save the city?" Jonah complained. "You told me to say that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days. Now that you have changed your mind, I look like a fool. Please, take my life away. I would rather die than live."

But the Lord asked Jonah, "Do you really have any right to be so angry?"

Still angry at the Lord, Jonah left Nineveh and built a hut, where he waited to see what would become of the city. Then God made a leafy vine grow over the hut to shade the sun, so that its heat would not bother the prophet. But the next morning, the Lord sent a worm to attack the vine, and it withered in the heat of the day. The hot winds blew, and sun beat down on Jonah, making him feel faint. "Please, Lord," he cried, "let me die."

"Is it right that you should be so angry because of the death of this vine?" asked the Lord.

"Yes," said Jonah. "I should be angry."

Then the Lord said to Jonah, "Look at how much pity you have for this one vine. You did not plant it. You did not make it grow. The vine came up in a few hours and died in a few hours. So should I not have pity for the people of the great city of Nineveh? Think of the thousands of people--think of the children--who would all die if I destroyed Nineveh. Should I not pity them?

"These are my people, Jonah. I have brought them up, and I have seen them turn from evil to good. Should I not pity them, and spare them?"

So Jonah came to understand God's ways and how much he loved his people, and Jonah was glad that Nineveh was saved.

Category: Children's Bible Stories