Jonah and the Big Fish

God had a special job for a man named Jonah. 'Jonah,' God said, 'go to the big city of Nineveh and tell them to stop doing bad things.'

But Jonah didn't want to go. The people in Nineveh were mean! They were enemies! 'I'm not going!' Jonah said. So he ran away. He got on a boat going the OPPOSITE way—as far from Nineveh as he could get!

Jonah thought he could hide from God. But you can't hide from God! God is everywhere!

God sent a BIG storm! The wind blew WHOOOOSH! The waves crashed SPLASH! The boat rocked back and forth. The sailors were scared!

'Someone on this boat made God angry!' they said. They figured out it was Jonah.

'It's my fault,' Jonah admitted. 'I'm running away from God. Throw me into the water and the storm will stop.'

The sailors didn't want to, but the storm was getting worse. Finally, they threw Jonah—SPLASH—into the water!

Right away, the storm stopped. Everything was calm.

But Jonah didn't drown! God sent a HUGE fish—bigger than a school bus! The fish swallowed Jonah GULP! Jonah was inside the fish's belly for three days and three nights.

It was dark and smelly in there! Jonah had a lot of time to think about running away from God.