Nineveh Says Sorry

After the big fish spit Jonah out, God said again, 'Go to Nineveh!'

This time, Jonah went. Nineveh was HUGE—it took three days to walk through! Jonah walked around shouting, 'In forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed!'

Something amazing happened. The people listened! They believed God! Everyone—from the poorest person to the king himself—said sorry for the bad things they'd done. They stopped eating to show how serious they were. Even the king took off his fancy robes and put on scratchy clothes.

The king announced, 'Everyone pray to God! Stop doing bad things! Maybe God will forgive us!'

God saw that they really meant it. He forgave them! He didn't destroy the city!

Hooray! Right? Well... not for Jonah.

Jonah was ANGRY. 'I KNEW You'd forgive them!' he complained to God. 'That's why I ran away! You're too nice! Just let me die!'

God asked, 'Is it right for you to be so angry?'

Jonah sat outside the city, pouting. God made a plant grow to give Jonah shade. Jonah liked the plant.

But the next day, the plant died. Jonah got even angrier!

God said, 'You're upset about a plant that you didn't even grow. But there are thousands and thousands of people in Nineveh—plus animals! Shouldn't I care about them?'

God loves EVERYONE—even people we might think are our enemies. He wants everyone to say sorry and be saved. We should want that too!