Jonah

Jonah is the prophet who ran away, and the book that bears his name is less about a great fish than about the greatness of God's mercy. Sent to Nineveh, capital of Israel's cruelest enemy, Jonah boards a ship going the opposite direction, is swallowed by the deep, and prays his way back from the belly of death. When he finally preaches, the unthinkable happens: Nineveh repents, and God relents. The final chapter is the real confrontation, an angry prophet sulking under a withered plant while God asks whether he should not pity a city of thousands.