The word of the  Lord  came to Jonah  son of Amittai:   “Go to the great city of Nineveh  and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran  away from the  Lord  and headed for Tarshish . He went down to Joppa,  where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Now the Lord provided  a huge fish to swallow Jonah,  and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And the  Lord  commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah  a second time:   “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah 1:1-3,17; 2:10, 3:1-3 Jonah was chosen to be God's servant, in bringing God's message of salvation both to his nation of Israel and