Why had he tried to run away? What a fool.... God would never forgive him for it. And then, in the crash of wind and water, a feeling of disdain came over Jonah, a bitter strength, a final pride. Well, here was the storm ... here was God still. God had taken everything away from him. What was his life worth to him now? Oh, be done with it, once and for all. “Look ... if You want it, God ... it is of no value to me any more....” “It is my fault,” he said to the sailors proudly. “I alone am to blame. I am a Jew who has denied his God. It is my life that is wanted. Throw me overboard.” But the sailors were frightened, and they would not touch him. “No,” they said, “we will row back to Joppa again. Then your god can do as he likes. If we throw you overboard, you will drown. Then we shall have blood upon our hands.” They tried with all their strength to row against the storm. But the black sea, breaking, splintered their oars, and the wind pressed them backwards. Then they said humbly, in fear, “This sea belongs to Iaveh, the god of the Jews. We cannot prevail against him any longer.” And seizing Jonah, they cast him overboard, with a prayer. “Do not lay innocent blood upon us,” they said, “O god of the Jews. This is your doing, not ours.” So saying they waited, trembling. At once the sea grew calm, the wind died away, and the sun sank tranquilly down in the clear west. The peace of evening brooded again upon the water. And the ship, with all her sails set for Joppa, fled to the east. Jonah sank through the waters without complaint. It was the end, and he had no desire to live. But as his breath failed, so his mind brought back to him the blue and shining sky, the sweet odors of the desert, the happy dreams of his youth, of glory, of peace. He began to struggle; his body fought against the sea, his mind shouted against death. “No,” he cried to himself, “no, I must live; I must live.” With a groan Leviathan hurled himself through the waves and took the prophet into his mouth. XVIII In the darkness the whale spoke to Jonah. “What a lot of trouble you have made for yourself,” he said. And he told Jonah how God had made arrangements. Jonah was not unhappy. In the whale’s mouth he was uncomfortable, but he had a great deal to think about. His mind was filled with wonder. So it turned out that God was at home everywhere; that He commanded the fish of the sea, as well as the hosts of the air, and the creatures of the land. That was an extraordinary thing. What an upset to theology. Jonah asked the whale many questions. And the whale, who had often thought about such things as he rested among the weeds at the bottom of the sea, answered him as best he could. “Do you deny,” said Jonah, “that God created man in His own image?”