Jonah 1:15-17

God prepared a great fish -- Jonah 1:15-17: These mariners were more obedient than God's prophet. "They took up Jonah and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging." They were sincerely sorry for having done what they believed would cause the death of Jonah. After Jonah had been cast into the sea and the sea stopped its ragging the mariners feared the Lord exceedingly. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. We do not have any information if these men ever learned what happened to Jonah. We only know that they threw him overboard into the sea and he disappeared or they might have seen the fish swallow him.

The Bible tells us that "the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." The God that made fish in the beginning could easily prepare a fish to swallow up His unfaithful prophet. He could also easily preserve Jonah for these three days and nights in the belly of this fish. The Lord that made and sent the wind to cause the storm likewise made and sent the fish. Please observe that the New Testament says, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40)