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Photo courtesy of David Sharir

“Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). Released from the fish, Jonah obeys God’s will by going to Nineveh. There, as shown here in David Sharir’s portrayal, Jonah cries out against Nineveh’s many wickednesses, from sins of the flesh to torture, regicide, deceptiveness and general mayhem. The difficulty for Jonah, however, is that the Ninevehites repent immediately: They accept God, proclaim a fast, put on sackcloth and are granted clemency by God—thus preventing Jonah from carrying out his bloody prophetic mission to proclaim the imminent destruction of the city. Jonah is furious with God and asks to die, which suggests that he remains unreformed.