A short play based on the King James Version of The Book of Jonah.
Preview of the first half of the play:
Scene 1
[Jonah is sleeping.]
The Lord (to Jonah): Jonah the son of Amittai, you shall arise, and go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
Narrator: But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. [Jonah, with a backpack that stores a blanket, flees the direction of The Lord, paying the fare to board the ship. He unfolds his blanket, lies down, and falls asleep. The ship begins to rock, and the mariners are afraid.]
Zach and Zeb the Mariners (frightened, ad libbing please of help): Gods, help us! [They start throwing cargo off the ship into the sea.]
Shipmaster Ethan (approaching Jonah): What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
Zach the Mariner: Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. [They draw straws, and Jonah picks the short straw.]
Zeb the Mariner (to Jonah): Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
Jonah: I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
[The mariners are afraid.]
Zeb: Why hast thou done this?
Zach: What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea is tempestuous.
Jonah: Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
Ethan: No, Jonah, we shall row this ship and bring it to the land.
[Ethan, Zach, Zeb, and Jonah row, but the ship is rocking in the wind.]
Zeb: We cannot reach the land. The sea is wild and tempestuous against us.
Zach: We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
Ethan: We must cast Jonah forth into the sea.
[They throw Jonah overboard.]
Zeb: The sea has ceased from her raging.
Zach: Lord, we fear you exceedingly, and we offer sacrifices to you.
[All men clasp their hands together and look towards Heaven.]
Narrator: Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. [The Whale enters, grabbing Jonah and leading him offstage.] And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Scene 2
Narrator: Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly.
Jonah: I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.
Narrator: And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
