Once upon a time there lived a man called Jonah. He was a prophet. God had specially chosen him to take messages to his people.
But Jonah did not always do as God said. One day God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh to tell the people to stop doing bad things. If they don't stop I will destroy them God said. But Jonah did not want to go to Ninevah, he wanted God to destroy the people there. So Jonah ran the other way, away from Ninevah.
Jonah went down to the sea and asked for a ride on a boat. When the boat started on it's journey, Jonah felt better. He thought that God had forgotten about him.
After a while there was a terrible storm and the sailors were very frightened they though they would all be drowned. But Jonah got onto his bunk and went to sleep. He thought the storm would be over when he woke up.
The captain came to wake him and said they were all going to be drowned and why didn't he pray to his God to save them.
Jonah thought God had sent the storm to stop him from running away from him. He asked the captain to throw him overboard into the sea, which he did and the storm stopped at once.
The captain said, "This God of Jonah's must be very powerful if even the storms obey him" But God had sent an enormous fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was very frightened inside the fish. "Help me" he shouted to God. He told God how stupid he had been for not obeying him.
After three days, the whale spat Jonah onto some sand. God told him to stop being silly and to go to Nineveh as he had been told to do.
Jonah went to Nineveh and told the people that God was angry about the things they did and that he would punish them if they didn't change. The people were sorry and began to try to please God.
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