graciously gives him a new beginning. Jonah no doubt expected to die in the waters of the sea,10 but when he woke up inside the fish, he realized that God had graciously spared him. As with the Prodigal Son, whom Jonah in his rebellion greatly resembles (Luke 15:11–24), it was the goodness of God that brought him to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Notice the stages in Jonah’s spiritual experience as described in his prayer. He prayed for God’s help (Jonah 2:1–2). “Then Jonah prayed” (2:1) suggests that