<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>
who did the whale swallowed in the bible
Jonah