<Tr> <Th> Major shrine </Th> <Td> Tomb of Jonah (destroyed), Mosul, Iraq </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Feast </Th> <Td> September 21--Roman Catholicism July 31 </Td> </Tr> <P> Jonah or Jonas is the name given in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh / Old Testament) to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE . He is the eponymous central figure of the Book of Jonah, in which he is called upon by Yahweh to travel to Nineveh and warn its residents to repent of their sins or face divine wrath . Instead, Jonah boards a ship to Tarshish . Caught in a storm, he orders his shipmates to cast him overboard, whereupon he is swallowed by a giant fish . Three days later, after Jonah agrees to go to Nineveh, the fish vomits him out onto the shore . Jonah successfully convinces the entire city of Nineveh to repent, but waits outside the city to await its destruction . Yahweh shields Jonah from the sun with a plant, but later sends a worm to cause it to wither . When Jonah complains of the bitter heat, Yahweh rebukes him . Mainstream Biblical historians generally regard the Book of Jonah as fictional and at least partially satirical, but the character of Jonah may have been based on a historical prophet . </P> <P> In Judaism, the story of Jonah represents the teaching of teshuva, which is the ability to repent and be forgiven by God . In the New Testament, Jesus calls himself "greater than Jonah" and promises the Pharisees "the sign of Jonah", which is his resurrection . Early Christian interpreters viewed Jonah as a type for Jesus . Later, during the Reformation, Jonah came to be seen instead as an archetype for the "envious Jew". Jonah is regarded as a prophet in Islam and the biblical narrative of Jonah is repeated, with a few notable differences, in the Quran . </P>

Who did the whale swallowed in the bible