Gospel Sparks Join the beta

Should Not I Spare Nineveh?

Jonah ran from a call because he knew how merciful God is; the book ends with a question for us

  • 📖 Adult Sunday School
  • Week 48
  • 📅 Sunday, November 29, 2026
🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

The Lord gives second chances to people who run from Him, including us, and He asks us to rejoice when His mercy reaches people we would rather He left alone.

I can accept the Lord’s second chance for myself and pray, by name, for someone I have found hard to forgive.

Come, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Amos; Obadiah; Jonah)
Know the chapters

This week’s three books are short and very different. Amos was a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit from Tekoa whom the Lord called straight from the flock (Amos 1:1; 7:14–15). He preached to the prosperous northern kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II, rebuking people who sold “the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes” (2:6) while keeping up their feasts (5:21–24). He taught that the Lord reveals His secret to His servants the prophets (3:7) and warned of a famine “of hearing the words of the LORD” (8:11–12). Obadiah, a single chapter, condemns Edom, Esau’s descendants, for standing aloof while Jerusalem fell (Obadiah 1:10–11), and closes with “saviours” on mount Zion (1:21). Latter-day Saints hear in that phrase the temple work we do for those who died without the gospel.

This lesson centers on Jonah, a prophet mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 in the days of the same Jeroboam. The Lord sent him to Nineveh, a great city of Assyria, the empire that would later carry the northern kingdom away. Jonah went down to Joppa and bought passage to Tarshish, the opposite direction (Jonah 1:3). Most people remember the storm and the great fish. The book’s real surprise is chapter 4. After Nineveh repented and was spared, Jonah was furious, and he explained why he had run in the first place: he knew the Lord was gracious and merciful and would forgive them (4:2). He was quoting the way the Lord described Himself to Moses (Exodus 34:6).

The book ends without an ending. The Lord asks Jonah, “Should not I spare Nineveh?” (4:11), and Jonah never answers. The question is left open for every reader. Adults usually know what it is to run from something the Lord asked, and many also know the quieter struggle of resenting someone else’s second chance. Jesus pointed to Jonah’s three days in the fish as a sign of His own death and Resurrection, and He said the people of Nineveh repented at Jonah’s preaching while “a greater than Jonas is here” (Matthew 12:40–41).

Twenty-five minutes goes quickly; one story read well and one honest conversation will do more than a survey of three books. November 29 is a fifth Sunday, so check with your bishopric whether Sunday School meets; the lesson works just as well on any Sunday before the next one. It is also Thanksgiving weekend in the United States, and Jonah 2:9 is a thanksgiving offered from inside the fish, before any rescue came.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Jonah 1, 3 and 4 once. Open by asking why a prophet would run from the Lord on purpose. Read Jonah 4:1–4 together and have pairs find what Jonah knew about God in verse 2. Spend most of the time on the Our Ninevehs questions, then read Jonah 4:10–11, invite one or two testimonies, and ask each person to pray by name this week for someone they have found hard to forgive.

What to bring2 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Read Jonah straight through; it takes about ten minutes. Then read chapter 4 again slowly. Mark 4:2, 4:4 and 4:10–11; they carry the lesson.
  2. Ask two people ahead of time to read: one for Jonah’s own words (1:9, 1:12, 2:2 and 4:2–3) and one for the king of Nineveh (3:7–9). A quick text on Saturday is plenty.
  3. Find Joppa and Nineveh on a map so you can point west and east. Tarshish’s location isn’t certain, but it lay far to the west across the sea.
  4. Think of your own honest answer to “Who is my Nineveh?” You don’t need to name anyone, but if the room is quiet, your willingness to admit you have one will help others.
  5. Pick the two or three discussion questions you most want to reach. You won’t get to all of them.

Discussion tips

  • Quiet class? The questions in this lesson touch real resentments. Give a full minute in pairs before asking anyone to speak to the room, and make it clear nobody needs to name the person they are thinking of.
  • One voice filling every pause? Thank them, then say, “Let’s hear from someone who hasn’t spoken yet,” or send the next question to pairs first.
  • Someone in the room may have been badly hurt by a person they are now being asked to pray for. Don’t equate forgiving with excusing abuse or returning to danger. The Lord asks us to let go of the desire for His mercy to pass someone by, not to pretend a wrong never happened.
  • If someone says, “Nineveh deserved judgment; Assyria was brutal,” agree. That’s exactly why the story is hard. Point to Jonah 3:10: God responded to real repentance, and the question He asks Jonah is about His own heart.
  • Visitors and new members: Jonah is one of the best-known stories in the Bible, so it is a friendly place to begin. Give page numbers, tap the references on the shared screen, and never ask anyone to read aloud without checking first.

The 25-minute plan25 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Each “On the screen” line is what the class sees on a shared screen in Teach Mode in the Gospel Sparks app; on paper, read it aloud or write it on the board. On the web you can play Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

The Wrong Way on Purpose

3 min

Opens with the puzzle of the book: a prophet who deliberately runs the other way.

  1. Show the map. Point to Joppa on the coast and Nineveh far to the east.
  2. SAY“The Lord told Jonah to go east, to Nineveh. Jonah went to Joppa and bought a ticket west, to Tarshish, as far away as a ship could take him.”
  3. Ask: “Jonah wasn’t lost, and he wasn’t lazy. Why would a prophet run from the Lord on purpose?”
  4. Take two or three answers. Accept every honest guess: fear, pride, danger, embarrassment.
  5. SAY“Hold on to your guesses. Jonah tells us the real reason himself, but not until chapter 4.”

On the screen: 🧭 Why would a prophet run from the Lord on purpose?

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: A simple map of the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia (printed, or pulled up in a Bible map on your phone or tablet) showing Joppa and Nineveh

East Wall, West Wall

  1. Point to one wall and say, “That’s Nineveh, far to the east.” Point to the opposite wall: “That’s Tarshish, across the sea to the west. Joppa, the port, is right about here,” and stand in the middle.
  2. SAY“The Lord told Jonah to go that way. Jonah bought a ticket the other way.”
  3. Ask: “Jonah wasn’t lost, and he wasn’t lazy. Why would a prophet run from the Lord on purpose?” Take two or three answers.
  4. SAY“Hold on to your guesses. Jonah tells us the real reason himself, but not until chapter 4.”
2. Story

Read It in Context: Jonah Runs, and Returns

7 min

Reads the whole arc of Jonah so chapter 4 lands with its full surprise.

  1. Open Teach Mode to the scripture scene. The shared screen shows one scene at a time.
  2. Read each scene’s context yourself, then let the assigned voices read the verses. You read the Lord’s words; no one is assigned to speak as the Lord.
  3. Keep it moving: context, verses, next scene. Save comments for the discussion.
  4. After the last scene, let a few seconds of silence sit before moving on.

On the screen: 🐋 Jonah: a call, a storm, a second chance, and a question with no answer · Follow along in Jonah 1–4

3. Scripture

The Reason He Ran

4 min

Lets class members discover for themselves that Jonah ran from God’s mercy, not from His judgment.

  1. Put Jonah 4:2 on the shared screen and read it slowly.
  2. SAY“Jonah lists five things he knows about God. With the person next to you, find all five.”
  3. After a minute, gather them: gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and ready to turn away from punishment.
  4. Ask: “Every one of those is good news. Why would it make Jonah run?” Let the class say it: he didn’t want his enemies forgiven.
  5. Point out that Jonah is quoting the Lord’s own description of Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6. He knew the scriptures well; his heart hadn’t caught up.

On the screen: 🔍 “I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful.” · Jonah 4:2 · Find five things Jonah knew about God. Why did they make him run?

4. Talk it over

Our Ninevehs

6 min

Helps adults face the quiet ways we resent God’s mercy toward others, and look at the Lord’s gentle response.

  1. Pick two or three questions; don’t try to cover them all.
  2. Send the third question to pairs for a minute before inviting anyone to share with the room. Make it clear no one needs to name a person.
  3. Let silence work. Count to seven in your head before rescuing a question.
  4. If the room is quiet, share your own honest answer first.
💬 Ask the class
  • Jonah was glad for mercy in the fish (2:9) and angry about mercy for Nineveh (4:1). Why is it easier to receive grace than to watch someone else receive it?
  • The pagan sailors and the people of Nineveh respond to God faster than His prophet does. What might the Lord be teaching us by telling the story that way?
  • Without naming anyone, who are the “Ninevites” in our lives, people we might quietly hope stay out of reach of God’s mercy? (Talk with a neighbor first.)
  • The Lord answers Jonah’s anger with a question: “Doest thou well to be angry?” (4:4). What can we learn from how He handles Jonah?
  • What would it look like to actually delight in someone else’s second chance?

On the screen: 🏙️ Why can mercy for others be harder to accept than mercy for ourselves? · Jonah 1:14–16; 3:5–10; 4:1–4

5. Talk it over

The Second Time

3 min

Turns from Jonah’s resentment to the second chance the Lord gave Jonah himself.

  1. Read Jonah 3:1 together and underline “the second time.”
  2. SAY“The Lord didn’t replace Jonah. He came back to him with the same call.”
  3. Ask one or two questions, then share Elder Holland’s words (in “From general conference” below).
💬 Ask the class
  • When has the Lord given you a “second time” after you ran from something He asked?
  • Jonah promised thanks from inside the fish, before he was rescued (2:9). What does gratitude in the middle of a mess do for us?
  • Who around us needs to hear that it isn’t too late to come back?

On the screen: 🔁 “The word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time.” · Jonah 3:1

6. Testimony

A Greater than Jonas

2 min

Ends with testimony of Jesus Christ, whose mercy Jonah ran from and whom Jonah’s story points to.

  1. Read Matthew 12:40–41: Jesus used Jonah’s three days as a sign of His own death and Resurrection, and said “a greater than Jonas is here.”
  2. SAY“Jonah ran from Nineveh because of God’s mercy. The Savior came into the world to carry that mercy to everyone, including us.”
  3. Invite one or two people to share, briefly, how the Lord gave them a second chance.
  4. Bear a short testimony that no one has run too far for Him.
  5. Invite: “This week, pray by name for one person you have found hard to forgive, and ask the Lord to help you want His mercy for them.”

On the screen: ✝️ A greater than Jonas is here: His mercy reaches every Nineveh, and every one of us. · Matthew 12:40–41 · This week: pray by name for someone hard to forgive.

7. Talk it over

A Famine of Hearing

5 minBONUS

Uses Amos to appreciate living prophets and the end of the famine Amos foresaw.

  1. Read Amos 7:14–15, where Amos explains he was a herdsman the Lord called from the flock.
  2. Read Amos 3:7, then Amos 8:11–12.
  3. SAY“Latter-day Saints see that famine in the long centuries after the Apostles died, and its end in the Restoration.”
  4. Ask one or two questions.
💬 Ask the class
  • Why do you think the Lord so often calls ordinary people, like a herdsman from Tekoa, to speak for Him?
  • Amos 8:12 describes people running “to and fro” looking for the word of the Lord. Where do you see that hunger today?
  • How has having living prophets and open scriptures blessed you in a way you might take for granted?

On the screen: 🌾 “Not a famine of bread … but of hearing the words of the LORD.” · Amos 3:7; 7:14–15; 8:11–12

8. Game

Scripture Showdown

5 minBONUS

A light, friendly review if you finish early.

  1. Split the room down the middle into two teams.
  2. Launch Scripture Showdown on your phone or tablet and read each question aloud.
  3. After each reveal, read the reference so people can mark it.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

On the screen: 🏆 Scripture Showdown: how well do you know Amos, Obadiah and Jonah?

Read it together

Jonah Runs, and Returns

Jonah 1–4 ↗

Reading parts

  • Jonah’s VoiceReads Jonah’s own words: Jonah 1:9, 1:12, 2:2 and 4:2–3.
  • King of NinevehReads the king’s decree in Jonah 3:7–9.
  • The ClassEveryone reads the sailors’ prayer together in Jonah 1:14.

Scenes

  1. 🧭 Go east to Nineveh; Jonah sails west

    The Lord tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, a great city of Assyria, the most feared power of his world, and cry against its wickedness. Jonah goes down to the coast at Joppa and pays for passage to Tarshish, as far the other way as ships could take him.

    🎬 The teacher reads Jonah 1:1–3. Point east, then west, as the verses name each place.

  2. ⛈️ A storm, and sailors who pray

    The Lord sends a great wind. The sailors, who worship other gods, pray and throw cargo overboard, while Jonah sleeps below deck. When the lot falls on him, he tells them who he is, and then tells them to throw him into the sea.

    🎬 Jonah’s Voice reads 1:9 and 1:12. Then the Class reads the sailors’ prayer in 1:14 together.

  3. 🐋 A prayer from inside the fish

    The Lord prepares a great fish, and Jonah spends three days and nights inside it. From there he prays. He has not been rescued yet, and still he promises to offer thanks.

    🎬 The teacher reads 1:17. Jonah’s Voice reads 2:2. The teacher reads 2:9–10.

  4. 📣 “The second time”

    The Lord speaks to Jonah again, with the same call. This time Jonah goes. He walks a day into the huge city and delivers the Lord’s warning in a single sentence.

    🎬 The teacher reads Jonah 3:1–4. Pause on the words “the second time.”

  5. 👑 “Who can tell if God will turn?”

    The response is astonishing. Everyone from the greatest to the least fasts and puts on sackcloth, and the king leaves his throne to sit in ashes. God sees that they have turned from their evil way, and He spares the city.

    🎬 The King of Nineveh reads 3:7–9. The teacher reads 3:10.

  6. 😠 Jonah is angry at God’s mercy

    Now we learn why Jonah ran. He isn’t relieved. He is furious, and he tells the Lord he knew all along what kind of God He is.

    🎬 Jonah’s Voice reads 4:1–3. The teacher reads the Lord’s quiet question in 4:4.

  7. 🌿 A vine, a worm, and a question

    Jonah sits east of the city to see what will happen. The Lord grows a plant to shade him, then lets a worm kill it, and Jonah grieves for the plant. The Lord answers with the last words of the book, and Jonah never replies.

    🎬 The teacher reads Jonah 4:10–11. Let the question hang in the room for a few seconds.

Key verse

Jonah 4:2 ↗
“I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”
In plain words: Jonah didn’t run because he doubted God. He ran because he knew exactly how merciful God is, and he didn’t want that mercy to reach his enemies.

More verses

Jonah 3:1 ↗
“And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time”
In plain words: The Lord came back to the prophet who ran and gave him the same call again. Second chances are part of His character.
Jonah 4:10–11 ↗
“Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”
In plain words: Jonah grieved over a plant he didn’t grow. The Lord asks why He shouldn’t care about a whole city of people He made. The book ends on that question.
Amos 3:7 ↗
“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
In plain words: God makes His will known through prophets He calls. We don’t have to guess what He wants.
Amos 8:11 ↗
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD”
In plain words: Amos warned of a hunger worse than hunger for food: a time without the word of God. The Restoration ended that famine.

Scripture Showdown7 questions

  1. Where did Jonah try to sail instead of going to Nineveh?
    • A. Tarshish
    • B. Babylon
    • C. Egypt
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Tarshish Jonah 1:3: he found a ship going to Tarshish, away “from the presence of the LORD.”

  2. What did Jonah tell the sailors to do to calm the storm?
    • A. Pray harder
    • B. Throw out the cargo
    • C. Throw him into the sea
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Throw him into the sea Jonah 1:12: “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea.”

  3. What does Jonah 3:1 say the word of the Lord came to Jonah?
    • A. In a dream
    • B. The second time
    • C. Through an angel
    Show answer

    ✅ B. The second time “The word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time.” A second chance.

  4. How did the king of Nineveh respond to Jonah’s warning?
    • A. He arrested Jonah
    • B. He sat in sackcloth and ashes
    • C. He ignored it
    Show answer

    ✅ B. He sat in sackcloth and ashes Jonah 3:6: he left his throne, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

  5. Why did Jonah say he had run away?
    • A. He knew God was gracious and merciful
    • B. He was afraid of the sea
    • C. He didn’t believe God
    Show answer

    ✅ A. He knew God was gracious and merciful Jonah 4:2: he knew the Lord would forgive Nineveh if they repented.

  6. What was Amos doing when the Lord called him?
    • A. Fishing
    • B. Serving as a priest
    • C. Following the flock
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Following the flock Amos 7:15: “the LORD took me as I followed the flock.”

  7. What kind of famine did Amos warn about?
    • A. A famine of bread
    • B. A famine of hearing the words of the Lord
    • C. A famine of water
    Show answer

    ✅ B. A famine of hearing the words of the Lord Amos 8:11: not bread or water, but “of hearing the words of the LORD.”

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

From general conference

“It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time.”

— Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Laborers in the Vineyard,” April 2012

Share in The Second Time, after the class talks about who needs to hear that it isn’t too late.

Read the talk ↗

Songs

  • Master, the Tempest Is Raging Hymns, no. 105

    A hymn of a storm at sea and the Savior who calms it. A natural opening hymn for Jonah. Find it ↗

  • Count Your Blessings Hymns, no. 241

    Thanksgiving weekend, and Jonah’s prayer of thanks from inside the fish (Jonah 2:9). Find it ↗

This week’s invitation

Pray for Your Nineveh

This week, pray by name for one person you have found hard to forgive or hard to wish well, and ask the Lord to help you want His mercy for them. If there is a call you have been running from, accept your own “second time” and take one step toward it.

Take it home

In Sunday School we read Jonah. The surprise is chapter 4: Jonah ran because he knew God was “gracious … and merciful” (Jonah 4:2) and didn’t want his enemies forgiven. The book ends with God asking, “Should not I spare Nineveh?” Take it home: read Jonah 4 together and ask how everyone would answer the Lord’s question.

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

💧 Let Judgment Run Down as Waters · 4 min

  1. Read Amos 5:21–24, where the Lord rejects feasts and offerings from people who ignore justice.
  2. Read Amos 2:6–7 for what that injustice looked like.
  3. Ask: “What would it look like in our ward and our homes for righteousness to run ‘as a mighty stream’ and not only on Sundays?”

⛰️ Saviours on Mount Zion · 4 min

  1. Read Obadiah 1:11, where Edom stood aloof while Jerusalem suffered, then Obadiah 1:21.
  2. Explain that Joseph Smith taught that we become saviors on Mount Zion by doing temple ordinances for those who died without them.
  3. Read Doctrine and Covenants 128:15 and ask: “Who in your family is waiting for you not to stand aloof?”

📏 The Plumb Line · 4 min

  1. Read Amos 7:7–8, where the Lord stands by a wall with a plumb line in His hand.
  2. Explain that a plumb line shows whether a wall is truly vertical, no matter how straight it looks.
  3. Ask: “What is the Lord’s plumb line for us, and when have you been grateful to be measured against it?”

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

All Adult Sunday School lessons