Jonah and the Great Fish: A Second Chance

Jonah

God told Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and speak to the people there. That was quite a job.

Jonah did not want to go. So he went the other way. He went down to the port, found a ship headed far away, paid for a ticket, and climbed aboard. He was running away.

The Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and a violent storm came up. The ship felt as if it might break. The sailors were terrified and each cried out to his own god. They threw the cargo overboard to make the ship lighter.

And Jonah had gone down below deck, where he lay down and fell fast asleep.

The sea is storming. The ship is shaking. The sailors are throwing cargo overboard. And Jonah is asleep below deck.

Have you ever been somewhere noisy and busy and felt like hiding? What was it like?

Turn the page and see what happens next.

The captain found him. "How can you sleep?" he said. "Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish."

The sailors cast lots to find out who was to blame for the storm. The lot fell on Jonah. They asked who he was, and Jonah told them: "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

The sea was getting rougher and rougher. "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?" they asked.

Jonah said, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."

The sailors tried to row back to land, but they could not. So they threw Jonah overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.

Jonah is in the sea. The storm is gone. And then something enormous happens that no one expected.

What do you think it might be?

Turn the page and find out.

The Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.

"In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you. Salvation comes from the Lord."

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Dry land. Jonah had been given a second chance. He could start over, right there on the shore.

The storm, the sailors, the great fish, all of it was behind him now. Only dry land and a new start.

How to Talk About This Story With Your Child

Jonah is a story about somebody running away and getting a second chance. It is not a story where a person does everything right. Jonah made a wrong choice, ran far away, and still came out on dry land in the end.

For a young child, the great fish is often the most exciting part. Let it be. The wonder of a huge fish and an unexpected rescue carries the story without needing a lesson tacked on.

The second chance is the quiet part of the story, and it is easy to rush past it. Jonah did not get what he had run from or what he had earned. He got a new start.

If your child asks why Jonah ran away, the text does not give a long explanation. It shows him going down to the port, paying for a ticket, and sailing the other way.

Pray Together

You do not have to use these exact words. You can tell God what you think about the story in your own words. Or you can pray this together:

Thank You, God, for the story of Jonah. Thank You that even when he ran away, You gave him a second chance. Help us remember that we can always start again, and that You are near even in the dark places. Amen.

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, and Jonah ran the other way. A great storm came, Jonah was thrown into the sea, and a huge fish swallowed him.

Three days and three nights he was inside the fish. And there he prayed.

The Lord commanded the fish, and it brought Jonah to dry land. A second chance, waiting on the shore.

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