“Go immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”

“Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention.”

Instead, Jonah immediately headed off to Tarshish to escape from the commission of the Lord. He traveled to Joppa and found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord.

When Jonah began to enter the city one day’s walk, he announced, “At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”

The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!”

He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! – because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment.