[Music]
Jonah was a wise old man who lived in
Israel long long ago he was loved and
respected by the people everybody came
to him to solve their problems and he
gave them wise advice God loved him
because he was a good man and he helped
his fellow beings
Jonah loved God he followed his
teachings and prayed to God all the time
Nineveh was a neighboring country of
Israel the people in this country were
known to be very evil they did not
follow God they did bad things they were
cruel greedy and were always fighting
with other people because of this God
was angry with the people of Nineveh one
day God spoke to Jonah and called for
his service Jonah I have something to
tell you
my lord I am lucky to be of your service
tell me I am listening to you God there
is a place called Nineveh not very far
from here
the people living in this place are evil
they steal from each other kill their
own brothers and do a lot of other evil
famous their king is lazy and selfish he
eats drinks and enjoys himself while
these people are starving he does not
care about his people their actions
anger me and I have decided to destroy
them I understand my god I am well aware
of their actions they are a wretched
group of people they are also our sworn
enemies in 40 days I will destroy the
land of Nineveh and everyone living
there this is my decision
so be it my lord you have told me all of
this but I still do not understand how I
can be of service to you tell me my lord
what should I do to make your wish come
true you are a good
righteous man and Jonah you have always
obeyed me and followed my teachings I
trust you and your abilities this is why
I must go to Nineveh immediately and
talk to the people about anger they do
not know me you must speak about my love
you must tell them to change their ways
and become good people only you can do
this but God how will I do this
they are evil they will not listen to me
also there are sworn enemies the people
of Nineveh are constantly attacking us
and waging war against us they try to
steal from us and harm our women that is
all true but still you must go and talk
to them they will have a second chance
through you if they fail they will be
destroyed you are their only hope for
survival now only you can convince them
to change their ways and turn to me the
one and only living God I have complete
faith in you God you have decided to
destroy them anyway after 40 days then
why should I go there and risk my life
my countrymen will be more than happy to
hear that Nineveh is going to be
destroyed they will abandon me if they
hear that I tried to stop that from
happening this is my will you must do
this Jonah you must leave for Nineveh
immediately very well my lord as you
wish
Jonah was very troubled by what God had
asked of him he was happy that God had
decided to destroy the people of Nineveh
they were the enemies of Israel he did
not believe that he could change their
ways but then how could he disobey God
Jonah finally decided he would not go to
Nineveh he got scared and decided to
escape from Nineveh and hide from God
Jonah travelled far from Nineveh over
the deserts and barren lands finally he
reached the seashore where he saw a ship
heading to another city and crossed the
sea he asked the captain whether he
could get on the ship the captain was
not happy at first but finally agreed
the sailors did not know about the one
true God that Jonah served and believed
it they worshipped stone at wooden idols
they had a God for the son another God
for the moon another for the ocean and
so on Jonah saw this but he did not
speak anything he went and slept in the
lower part of the ship Jonah was fast
asleep in the lower part of the ship
once the ship had traveled a short
distance the ship got caught in a great
storm they were tossed around in the
water like a paper boat everybody on the
ship was very scared and began to cry
out loud to their gods
the men on the ship were surprised to
see Jonah's sleeping peacefully while a
great storm was raging outside hey Jonah
wake up wake up how can you sleep like
this there was a storm outside and the
ship is going to be torn apart
wake up and pray to your God we have
been praying to our gods for some time
now but the storm is continuing to rock
the boat no this is the work of my God
the one and only true God who made the
whole world did you do anything to make
him angry how can we stop the storm I
tried to hide away from him he gave me a
task but I refused to do it that's why
he's angry at me now what should we do
there is nothing else to do
you have no other option but to throw me
off the ship and then the storm will go
away my God will leave you alone no we
cannot do that you're a good man we
don't want to harm you let us try to
throw some of the cargo out and see if
we can keep the ship afloat
the sailors started throwing out the
packages loaded on the ship one by one
but the storm did not go away there is
no use in doing this throw me into the
water
save yourself I hope you God keeps you
safe when the sailors realized that they
had no other option they threw Jonah off
the ship into the sea and like a miracle
the storm subsided the sea was calm all
of a sudden just at that moment a big
whale came up and swallowed Jonah
Jonah was scared like never before he
was in the dark and cold there was a
horrible smell around him also it was
slimy and all kinds of things were
floating around him it was then that he
realized that he was inside a whale
Jonah could not believe this was
happening to him but realized that God
was doing all of this
Jonah spent three days and three nights
in the belly of the whale he prayed the
whole time to God he was asking for
forgiveness and promised that he would
never try to hide away from God Jonah
would lose hope from time to time and
thought he would never see daylight
again
he thought about the foolish things he
had done how could he believed that he
could disobey God and hide from him this
was so stupid of him alone in the cold
dark insides of the whale Jonah became
very sad but he called out to God and it
gave him strength he believed that God
would keep him safe on the fourth day
the whale opened its mouth and spit
Jonah onto the beach Jonah was relieved
to see the light of day he had been
inside the dark belly of a whale for
three days then God spoke to him Jonah
you cannot hide from me
whatever YouTube who I am with you all
the time I am so sorry my lord I realize
now how foolish I have been tell me what
I can do to make up for this do as I
told you you must go to Nineveh and
complete the task I gave you they are
evil because they do not know me they
have not heard of my teachings they
deserve a chance to change their ways
and become good I will do whatever you
ask of me my lord I shall go and speak
to the people of Nineveh about your
undying love this time Jonah went to
Nineveh as promised he talked to the
people about God and his kingdom he
talked about what had happened to him
and how God had rescued him from the
raging storm by sending a whale he
showed them why it was important to do
good things and be kind to people he
taught them God's teachings and how God
was protecting them and taking care of
them at all times he also warned them
about God's punishment to his surprise
the people of Nineveh listened to him
the King heard of Jonah and called him
to the palace
Jonah talked to the King about how God
was merciful but that if he didn't
change himself then the city of Nineveh
would be destroyed in 40 days the king
asked for forgiveness for all the bad
and horrible things he had done and
promised that he would pray to the one
and only true God from now on he also
announced throughout the land that
everybody should pray to the Almighty
God that Jonah served Jonah spent many
days with the people of Nineveh God saw
that indeed the people of Nineveh had
changed so God decided not to punish the
city of Nineveh later
Jonah realized his work was finished and
he started on his journey back to Israel
however he was still hoping that Nineveh
would be destroyed as he did not
completely believe that their people
could actually become good so when God
decided not to destroy the city Jonah
was not happy
God realized what he was thinking and
spoke to Jonah Jonah why are you unhappy
you had said that you would destroy the
land of Nineveh these people are enemies
of Israel why didn't you destroy them
Jonah you don't understand the good you
have data these people are no longer
your enemies they believe in the one
true God just like we do I believe that
everybody needs a second chance to
correct their mistakes I do not want to
punish my people I love them I created
them so if they make use of the
opportunity to become good then why
should I destroy them all of this has
been possible through your work Jonah go
home now return in peace you have
completed God's work very well my god I
understand now thank you for this chance
to serve you my lord thank you for
saving me so many times
Jonah then made the journey back to
Israel and continued to speak about God
and the love for his people he told
everybody the story of how he was
trapped inside a whale for three days
and how God saved him the people loved
and respected him and the old prophet
lived for a very long time
[Applause]
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