Jonah ends up in the ocean, where he is consumed by “a great fish,” in the belly of which he survives, praying for deliverance even at the cost of being branded a false prophet. Ultimately, what he bitterly fears does come to pass—having been released from the castigatory whale onto the shore, Jonah delivers his dire forecast, the Ninevites fast, pray, wear sackcloth, and sit in ashes, and then they are redeemed; Jonah is an object of satire. God’s punitive disaster never sweeps over Nineveh.
