Jonah And The Whale Bible Story

Jonah 1: 1 (KJV)

Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2.) Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

3.) But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

4.) But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.


Now Jonah did not want to preach repentance to Nineveh. He was angry with them and felt they should be destroyed so he tried to flee from the Lord. Often in my own life, I find myself miserable and suffering because I refuse to do what I know I should do.

Jonah 1

5.) Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that [were] in the ship into the sea, to lighten [it] of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6.) So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7.) And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil [is] upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8.) Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil [is] upon us; What [is] thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what [is] thy country? and of what people [art] thou?
9.) And he said unto them, I [am] an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry [land].
10.) Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.


By trying to flee he almost brought about the destruction of all of the men on the boat. Realizing this he told them to throw him overboard. They called on their gods but received no answer they seemed to know that Jonah must call on his God.

Jonah 1

11.) Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12.) And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest [is] upon you.
13.) Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring [it] to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

14.) Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
15.) So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16.) Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

17.) Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 1 (King James Bible online)


The experience caused them to fear the true God. It must have been very shocking and scary for all of them. I would hope that they continued to fear and serve God from then on.

How awful it must have been to be in the belly of a whale or fish. Surely he must have thought this was the end for him. And yet God still had a purpose for Jonah, he was patiently waiting for Jonah to accept and do what he wanted him to do.

Jonah 2: 1 (KJV)

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,

2.) And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.
3.) For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4.) Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

5.) The waters compassed me about, [even] to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6.) I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars [was] about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

Buy at AllPosters.com

7.) When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

8.) They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9.) But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay [that] that I have vowed. Salvation [is] of the LORD.
10.) And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry [land].

Jonah 2 (King James bible online)



As Jonah describes what it was like it just makes my skin crawl. Finally he cries out to the Lord in repentance and thanksgiving. And he knows that God hears him and gives thanks for that and for his very salvation. He is ready now to do what is asked of him.

How many times in our own lives do we not do what we know he is asking of us and then complain as we suffer the consequences of our own actions.

We can learn so many wonderful lessons by reading Bible stories. And if we read them and learn from them we can escape some of the tragedies that others have suffered in the past.

Jonah 3: 1 (KJV)

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

2.) Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

3.) So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
4.) And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Buy at AllPosters.com

5.) So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them
6.) For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7.) And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:


Now when Nineveh heard what Jonah had to say they repented. The king himself was ready to do whatever was necessary to turn away from all of the evil and turn back to God. They prayed and fasted and cried out to God all of them all throughout the land.

Jonah 3

8.) But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
9.) Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10.) And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Jonah 3 (King James Bible online)


I wonder if we all turned away form our sins and turned toward the Lord in prayer and fasting how much trouble we could bypass in our own lives.

I am not saying everything would be just great all of the time, but we would save ourselves from having to learn such painful lessons sometimes. Just something to think about.

Jonah 4: 1 (KJV)

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

2.) And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, [was] not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou [art] a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3.) Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live.
4.) Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?


Now Jonah learned some lessons from God. He learned how important it is to obey God.
He also learned about his compassion. Even though we may become hard and want vengeance. God loves us and wants us to repent and turn to him and will give us many chances before he deals harshly with us. Funny how we are not always so forgiving even though we want to be forgiven for our own sins.

Jonah 4

5.) So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
6.) And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7.) But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.


When I first read Jonah long ago I was much younger and I struggled to understand the end. I could not understand why Jonah was so stubborn and angry. As I grew older and read it again I could see his point of view more. Niveneh had done some pretty horrible things, Jonah refused to forgive them so much so he was even willing to disobey God. He felt they deserved to die and did not want to do it.

Jonah 4

8.) And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, [It is] better for me to die than to live.
9.) And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, [even] unto death.
10.) Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

11.) And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and [also] much cattle?

Jonah 4 (King James Bible online)


And afterwards he was still angry and God used a tree to make a point which never made sense to me. But now I understand it better. Jonah had more compassion for a tree that had brought him some small comfort for one night then he did for a whole nation.

God was pointing out that if Jonah would have so much compassion for a tree why should he not have compassion for the whole nation including all of the animals. So many times in my own life I can be so stubborn, but would I compare myself to Jonah.
No of course not, well maybe I should. Then maybe I could learn my lesson before I end up in the belly of a whale.

All images on this page are in the public domain or from Allposters