Jonah

Jonah is a prophet who runs from God. Sent to preach to Nineveh, the capital of cruel Assyria, he flees the opposite way by sea, is thrown overboard in a storm, and is swallowed by a great fish — from whose belly he prays and is delivered.

When he finally preaches, the whole city repents, and Jonah is furious that God spares his enemies. The book's real subject is not the fish but the reluctant prophet's hard heart and the breadth of God's mercy: it ends with God's question about whether he should not pity a city of thousands. A story of grace that reaches beyond Israel.