Bible Studies

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JONAH AND THE WHALE…POEM

James P. Gram
Jonah 2

“Jonah, go to Nineveh
This is the Lord’s command
Tell them stop their wickedness
Or I will take a hand”

But Jonah did not want to go
To Nineveh at all;
“I’ll go and hide, and thus avoid
The Lord’s command and call.

I’ll take a ship to Tarshish cause
I’m really in a jam
“A ticket please, and hurry up
I’m going on the lam”

So off they sailed and Jonah thought
I’m hiding from the Lord;
There’s lots of space twixt Him and me
As long as I’m aboard

But God sent up a mighty wind
A hurricane did blow;
The ship was likely going down
As Jonah slept below

The crew then asked, “Who is the cause
Of all this grief and all?”
So they cast lots to find out who
And Jonah got the call

Then Jonah had to tell the crew
“I’m fleeing from the Lord
But I don’t see how punishment
Need fall on all aboard”

“Just cast me quickly in the sea;
That will calm the waters;
The ship will safely take you home
To wives and sons and daughters”

So all the crew agreed to this
And Jonah got his wish;
He splashed, was then ingested in
The belly of a fish

Three days and nights did Jonah rest
Inert within that whale;
He griped and wailed and cried a lot
But all to no avail

He then prayed that Almighty God
Would visit him with pity;
He promised that he’d go and preach
At Nineveh, the city

God’s heart was softened just a bit
He’d better take a hand;
“Hey fish, we’ve had enough of this
Just spit him up on land.”

You’ll want to know what happened then
Did Jonah God obey?
Yes, he went to Nineveh,
Great city, so they say

He told them that in forty days
The city would be done;
If they refused to modify
The way that things were run

The Ninevites could see God’s power
With Jonah and the whale;
“We wonder how he’d deal with us
If we go on and fail?”

The people turned their lives around
So much that God did pity
Of what he’d said, so now declared,
“I’ll save this mighty city”

But Jonah’s nose was out of joint
He took an angry view;
He thought that God had undermined
All he had tried to do

He thought that when I did declare
The city would be dead;
‘Twas wrong of God to turn around
Everything I said

“Jonah, do you think it’s right
To be so mad at me?
When men repent, I must forgive
Their failures, don’t you see?”

Now Jonah’s story, truth to tell
Is not about a whale
It’s all about God’s gracious love
The moral of this tale

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