History Literature / BookOfJonah

* WrongGenreSavvy: Jonah explains to God that he didn't want to preach in Nineveh because he hated the Ninevites and feared they might repent, meaning that since God is compassionate and merciful, He would cancel the planned destruction of the city. God replies that yes, that was kind of the whole ''point.''

* RefusingTheCall: Jonah tried doing this with his voyage. [[YouCantFightFate It didn't work]].

* EitherOrProphesy: Sort of. The people of Nineveh are GenreSavvy enough to here "God will smite you for your evil" as "Repent or be destroyed". The prophet himself didn't catch it, and complains.

* EitherOrProphesy: Sort of. The people of Nineveh are GenereSavvy enough to here "God will smite you for your evil" as "Repent or be destroyed". The prophet himself didn't catch it, and complains.

The Lord provides a vine to grow and give his prophet shade. The next day, though, Jonah wakes up to find the vine dead. He curses God for killing the plant, and the Lord responds to Jonah with a WhatTheHellHero for being more concerned about a plant than for a city full of thousands of people.

The Lord provides a vine to grow and give his prophet shade. The next day, though, Jonah wakes up to find the vine dead. He curses God for killing the plant, and the Lord responds to Jonah with a WhatTheHellHero for being more concerned about a plant than a a city of thousands of people.

[[Literature/BooksOfKings In the reign of Jeroboam II]], the Lord speaks to his prophet Jonah ben Ammitai, telling him to go to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh. The city's wickedness will be punished with destruction if they persist, but God wants Jonah to give them a warning so they have a chance to repent. However, Jonah doesn't want the Ninevites to be forgiven , and instead flees his mission on a voyage to Tarshish in Gaul (Spain!)

[[Literature/BooksOfKings In the reign of Jeroboam II]], the Lord speaks to his prophet Jonah ben Ammitai, telling him to go to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh. The city's wickedness will be punished with destruction if they persist, but God wants Jonah to give them a warning so they have a chance to repent. However, Jonah is afraid the Ninevites will kill him, and instead flees his mission on a voyage to Tarshish in Gaul (Spain!)

* WhatTheHellHero / TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: One delivered by God has got to hurt. Specifically, God chews out Jonah for caring more about his shade planet than all the people of Ninevah, which God specially points out includes those who don't know right from left and much cattle. Essentially, thousands of innocent children and animals.

[[Literature/BooksOfKings In the reign of Jeroboam II]], the Lord speaks to his prophet Jonah ben Ammitai, telling him to go to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh. The city's wickedness will be punished with destruction if they persist, but God wants Jonah to give them a warning so they have a chance to repent. However, Jonah doesn't ''want'' to see the Ninevites get mercy, and instead flees his mission on a voyage to Tarshish in Gaul (Spain!)

Jonah doesn't drown, though, because God proves a you-know-what to swallow him and take him to Nineveh. For three days Jonah prays inside the beast, thanking God for giving him a second chance. The beast then vomits Jonah onto dry land and the prophet treks away to the city.

The Lord provides a vine to grow and give his prophet shade. The next day, though, Jonah wakes up to find the vine dead. He curses God for killing the plant, and the Lord responds to Jonah with: "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"

* WhatTheHellHero / TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: One delivered by God has got to hurt.
* WordOfDante: When Jesus refers to the story of Jonah in the New Testament, he refers to the "great fish" with the Greek word meaning "sea monster", which was then often used to refer to whales. For those who believe in the New Testament as well as the Old, that's as close as one gets to reading the beast being called a whale.

At Nineveh, Jonah preaches to the people that, unless they repent, the entire city will be destroyed due to their evil. The Ninevites are struck with fear and spend the next days in fasting and mourning, thus convincing God to spare them. The Ninevites rejoice at being given mercy, but Jonah does not celebrate with them. He exits the city soon after and watches it from the plains in hope of God still smiting them anyway.

The Lord strikes the ship with a storm, and the sailors cast lots to find out why it's happening. When the lot falls on Jonah, he admits that he's a prophet who's abandoning his mission. He urges the sailors to throw him overboard so that the storm will cease upon his death. Though the sailors try to avoid this by trying to row back to land, the storm proves too great and they toss Jonah into the sea. Immediately the storm ends.

* UnbuiltTrope: "In the belly of a whale" is often used to refer to a period in a story where the protagonist is caught in a situation with no hope. However, in the story of Jonah the whale is actually ''not'' a punishment but God's way of saving Jonah from drowning. It also represented him giving Jonah a second chance by taking him back to land. Note, though, that the Bible itself compares being in the whale as a trial, though, when Christ compares the three days in the whale with his upcoming three days dead before resurrection.

* PetTheDog: Compared to the wrathful God associated with most of the New Testament, God here is incredibly benevolent to Nineveh despite their evil, even defying AMillionIsAStatistic by saying he cares for everyone in the city.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: Do what God tells you to do, or you'll get swallowed by a huge whale.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Jonah soon finds out about this thanks to God.

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* YankTheDogsChain: God provided a plant to give shade for Jonah, only to kill it the next day. Then caused a hot desert wind to give Jonah heatstroke. That'd get him quite mad.