Original subtitles

Do you know how the world began?

How God created it by hand?

From mighty mountains to the raging sea

to every leaf on every single tree.

It's in the holy book. Just open up and

take a look.

It's a story

for young and old.

the greatest story

ever told.

her lend and ear

and you will hear the greatest story.

The greatest

story

In the land of Israel, there was a

prophet named Jonah.

A prophet taught other people about God

and his love. Jonah told his friends and

neighbors that God loved all people.

And like God, Jonah tried to love all

people and all creatures.

Ah,

>> your fish looks fresh today. Of fear.

>> Yes, Jonah. The freshest you will ever

meet or eat.

>> You know how much I love eating fish.

And I'll take a bag of peanuts. I see

someone just as hungry as I am.

>> Hungry little dove. Here, take some of

mine. We're all God's creatures.

>> Sounds like someone's having an

argument.

>> This is my pot.

>> NO, IT IS MINE. I SAW IT FIRST.

>> NO, I DID. I NEEDED TO CARRY WATER. I

NEEDED TO CARRY RAISINS.

>> STOP.

>> Fighting never solves anything.

>> Besides, you're making me dizzy. My

friends, please. God doesn't want you

fighting. It upsets him.

Now neither of you gets the pot.

You were acting badly just like someone

from the city of Nineveh. Do you want

God to think we act like the Ninevites?

>> No.

>> No, Jonah. Sorry, Jonah.

>> The Ninevites are enemies of our people.

I heard they stole a boat full of fish.

>> Come on. Come here. Yes, they are

thieves.

Yes, they are very bad people.

See what happens when you fight.

From now on, we will act like Israelites

and not be bad like the Nivites. So

Jonah had a very important job. He

taught people about God's laws.

There came a day when God had an even

bigger job for Jonah.

Hello, Jonah.

God,

it's nice to hear your voice.

I have an important job for you. What is

it? I will do anything for you.

>> There are some people who are not

obeying my laws, Jonah.

Look what they're doing.

The people of Nineveh steal. They are

not kind to each other.

The children of Nineveh do not take care

of older people.

Others

are lazy

and their king pretends not to see the

problems.

He only cares about eating all day and

wearing fancy clothes.

Yes, the Nvites are bad. Send a flood or

an earthquake to punish them.

>> No, they are bad because they don't know

about me. No one has taught them my

laws. Jonah, your job is to go to

Nineveh and tell them about me.

Me? Go to Nineveh? I can't.

Please give me some other job. Tell them

of my love.

>> But they are the enemies of my friends

and neighbors.

>> You must go, Jonah, right now. In 40

days, I will punish them for being bad.

>> But if you're going to punish them, why

should I go tell them about you at all?

I don't understand.

The Ninevites should be punished for

being bad. But what if I tell them all

about God and they change? Then maybe

God won't punish them. I can't do

something to help my enemies.

>> Jonah was so confused he asked his

friends what he should do. You know,

it's funny, Jonah.

Usually we come to you with questions.

This time I want to know what you think.

How can I preach to the enemies of the

Israelites?

>> Simple. You can't. Oh, fear is right.

Jonah, don't go there.

Don't tell them about God.

>> You do have a problem, Jonah. If you

don't preach to them, you disobey God.

If you do preach to them, you'll

disappoint all your friends.

>> Nobody said being a prophet was easy,

Oir.

Wait, I know. I'll just hide from God.

>> Sure, but where can you hide from God?

>> Why, in your store, of course.

I know my plan will work. Go fear. If I

hide here for 40 days, then God will

punish the Ninevites and no one will be

mad at me.

>> You call this a hiding place? Here, let

me help you.

>> Uh O fear, you don't have to go to that

much trouble.

>> Look, if you're going to hide from God,

you've got to do it right

there.

And my shop's never been cleaner. Oh,

fear. Do you have any flour for baking

biscuits?

Yes. Yes. In that basket there. No,

wait. No. NO.

Now that everything's cleaned up.

Goodbye. Oir,

>> what?

>> But Jonah, why are you leaving?

>> I'm in the way. And I can't hide from

God here in Israel. It's the first place

he'd look for me.

So where will you go?

as far away from Nineveh as I can.

I'll travel to the other side of the

world to a city called Tarsish.

God will never find me there.

We'll miss you, Jonah.

>> Thank you. I have a very lonely trip

ahead of me because

God will not be with me.

So Jonah traveled as far away as he

could to run away from God. First he

walked across dry deserts.

Then he climbed high mountains.

He finally came to the town of Japa and

found a ship that was going to sail for

Tarsish.

Captain, my name is Jonah. Can I sail

with you to Tarsish?

>> Sorry, Jonah. This ship only carries

sailors and cargo. Besides, it's bad

luck to bring a stranger on board. You

know,

>> the sailors on this ship weren't

Israelites. They believed in many

different gods.

Aoy mate, HELP ME WITH THIS STATUE.

SIR, why not?

What?

Please, Captain, I must sail away with

you.

Why?

Because I am running away from God.

Why? Because he gave me a job to do and

I won't do it.

I must hide so he won't find me.

Did you see that? A dove. He flew right

to Jonah. A dove is a sign of good luck,

Captain. Very good luck. With Jonah on

board, we will have safe passage.

They're right. Welcome aboard, Jonah.

So Jonah set sail across the vast sea

headed to faraway Tarsish.

Jonah saw that the sailors didn't pray

to God. They worshiped statues made of

stone.

>> Excuse me. What are you doing?

>> Feeding the god of water. If he has a

full stomach, he'll make the seas calm.

But this isn't a god. It's just a rock.

My God is the real one. He created the

sea, the sky, the animals, all of us,

everything. One God created all that.

I don't think so, Jonah. See, this is

the sun god, the god of the wind, the

god of plenty. With so much in the

world, you need a lot of gods.

>> Yeah. No one god can rule OVER

EVERYTHING.

YES, God does. He is the one and only

God.

>> Well, then if he is so wonderful, why

are you running away from him?

>> He wants me to go to Nineveh and tell

them about him. But they are the enemies

of my people, and we'd be better off

without them.

Oh no, Captain. I've never seen a storm

like that. Me either. We're in trouble.

Whoa.

My god.

Take down the sails.

Help!

Help!

Grab our hands!

>> Men! The ship is sinking. HELP ME TOSS

THE CARGO OVERBOARD.

GOOD. We're safe now.

>> No. Nothing can save our ship.

>> Wait, what about the gods? Quick,

everyone, pray to the gods.

>> The sailors prayed to their gods, but

the storm just grew stronger.

>> Someone has brought our ship bad luck.

Very bad luck. We must FIND OUT WHO IT

IS. LET'S throw lots. Then we'll know

who brought this storm.

>> The captain and his crew, being

superstitious, believe that pieces of

wood and bone would tell them who

brought bad luck to their ship.

>> There, the locks point to the man who

brought us bad luck.

It's Jonah.

Where did you come from? AND WHO ARE

YOUR PEOPLE? I am an Israelite and I

worship the God of heaven. I'm running

away from him. And he has found you,

Jonah. What can we do? How do we make

the storm go away? Throw me overboard.

You must save yourselves. Please,

Captain. We have no choice. We must

throw Jonah into the sea. His god is

more powerful than any of our gods.

>> Jonah, I'm sorry. We've done everything

we could do.

>> I know, Captain. It's not your fault. I

made God angry. It's me, not you, who

should be punished.

>> God of the Israelites, we're sorry for

having to throw Jonah into the sea.

Poor Jonah.

May your God forgive you, Jonah.

>> Jonah found himself in the whale's

belly. Now he was really alone.

>> God, I'm sorry for trying to hide from

you. Do you hear me, God?

Jonah prayed to God for three days and

three nights.

It's so dark

inside this whale

and I'm lost at the bottom of the sea.

I was a fool

to run from you.

Now I know just what you want from me.

In the belly of a whale,

one day has gone by. I promise to be

true. And all you ask, I'll do in the

belly of a whale.

Oh, please hear my cry.

Never will I hide. Your word will be my

guide from the belly of a whale.

What can I do

to thank you Lord?

What offer can I make?

Look in my heart

and you will find

my life is yours to take.

In the belly of a whale,

two days have gone by. I promise to be

true. And all you ask I will do. In the

belly of a whale,

can you hear my cry?

Never will I hide your word. Be my guide

on the bed of a well.

Now I can feel you near.

I know that you are here.

You have heard my plea and come to set

me free.

Set me free

in the belly of a whale.

Three days have gone by. I promise to be

true. And now you ask I do. In the belly

of a whale. I know you hear my cry.

Never will I hide. Your word will be my

guide. From the valley of the valley of

from the valley of away.

After that, Jonah was no longer alone.

>> Hello, Jonah.

>> Oh, God. I am so glad that you're here

with me.

>> You tried to hide from me.

>> Oh, yes. And I now know that was really,

really wrong.

>> Jonah, you have learned your lesson.

Come on, let's get you out of here.

Jonah, Nineveh is behind that hill.

Hurry. Go tell them about me and about

my love.

>> God, I'm ready to do it now.

>> So Jonah went to Nineveh, and what he

had to say was so wonderful, all of the

people listened. They believed and best

of all they changed.

>> God says we shouldn't steal from each

other. We are all brothers and sisters

in this world. Would you steal from your

own family?

God says we shouldn't hurt anyone weaker

than us. Since we are all God's

children, we should protect each other.

Children, stop. God says we should honor

our elders. Don't forget, they helped

raise us and looked after us.

>> Even the children were changed and they

gathered around Jonah just like sheep

around their shepherd.

>> Hey farmer, God says we all have jobs to

do and we should work hard. We should

listen to him since he's the one who

gave this wonderful world to us.

Oh king of the Ninevites, this is no way

to lead your people. God tells us to

care for one another. Ha! Why should I

care what your God thinks?

>> Because he is going to punish everyone

in this city for being bad. Nineveh will

be like this grape. Please believe me,

king of the Ninevites.

I was sent by the one and the only God.

You only have a few days.

>> I do believe you, Jonah.

>> Then know his love and obey his laws.

That's all he wants.

>> Jonah told the king all about God's

laws.

My people, people of Nineveh, hear me.

For one week, all of us must fast. No

one will eat anything for 7 days, and

all of us will wear rags. If we do this,

we will show Jonah's God how sorry we

are for acting so badly.

After Jonah told the Ninevites about God

and his laws, they changed their ways.

Jonah then left the city.

He sat on a hill above Nineveh to watch

God punish them.

>> Jonah, I'm proud of you. The Ninevites

have changed their ways.

>> But aren't you still going to punish

them?

>> I am not going to punish anyone, Jonah.

>> But God, they are such bad people.

Shouldn't they be punished? They have

heard my voice through you, Jonah, and

have changed their hearts. I love them

as I love the Israelites, as I love all

people. I was afraid of this. I saved

the enemies of my people.

>> Go home, Jonah. It will be okay.

>> No, wait. Please, God. I am more

confused than ever.

Jonah didn't know what to do, where to

go. He just started walking into the

desert.

Unfortunately, the desert was hot and he

didn't have any food.

I'm so tired, hungry,

and thirsty.

Thank you, God. Thank you for this plant

and for saving me.

The next morning, the plant was dead.

And Jonah was mad. He was mad because

God let a worm destroy the plant.

Jonah, why are you angry? You let this

wonderful plant die that gave me food

and shelter. Like you took away my hope

yesterday when you didn't punish the

Ninevites.

>> You're mad because the plant is dead.

You cared more about this small plant

than the whole city of Nineveh. But you

didn't do anything to keep it alive.

>> So,

>> how do you think I'd feel if I punished

all the people of Nineveh?

There are men, women, and children that

I made and cared for over many years.

They never knew or loved me

until you came. Shouldn't I still care

about them?

>> Yes. Yes, you should.

>> Go home and tell your friends about

Nineveh and the planet.

>> So Jonah went home. I can't wait to see

my friends and eat all my favorite

foods,

except for one food. It's going to be a

long time before I eat fish again. Jonah

was accepted back by his friends, and he

spent the rest of his life teaching

about God's laws and especially about

God's love.

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.