Jonah and the Big Fish
Jonah runs the wrong way, gets swallowed by an enormous fish, and gets a second chance.
Read aloud in about five minutes.
“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.”
Jonah 2:1
- Jonah sails the opposite way
- A storm rises at sea
Running away
God asked Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and speak to the people there. Jonah did not want to. So he went to the harbour and got on a boat sailing in the exact opposite direction.
A great storm came up. The sailors were terrified, and Jonah admitted the storm had to do with him. At his own suggestion, they let him down into the sea, and the water went calm.
- A great fish swallows him
- Three days in the dark
Inside the fish
An enormous fish swallowed Jonah whole. He was inside it for three days and three nights, in the dark, with plenty of time to think.
He prayed. He said he was sorry, and that he would do what he had been asked. Then the fish brought him to dry land.
- He prays and is set on dry land
- Nineveh listens and changes
Second chances
Jonah went to Nineveh after all, and the people there listened and changed their ways.
Oddly, this annoyed Jonah — he had wanted them punished. The story ends with a gentle question about mercy, and whether we are willing to want it for other people as much as for ourselves.
Something to print
A colouring page, a cut-and-stick craft and six talking questions come with this story.