Jonah Cast into the Sea

God commands Jonah to go preach against Nineveh — the capital of Assyria, Israel's most feared enemy. Jonah flees by ship in the opposite direction. God hurls a great storm. The sailors are terrified, throwing cargo overboard, each crying to his own god. Jonah is asleep below deck. The captain finds him: "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god!" The sailors cast lots; it falls on Jonah. "It's my fault," he says. "Throw me into the sea." They do. The sea immediately grows calm. A great fish swallows him.