Jonah

Jonah is unlike every other prophetic book: there are almost no oracles, just a story with a protagonist who does everything wrong. Sent to Nineveh, capital of a cruel empire, he sails in the opposite direction, causes a storm, is thrown into the sea and swallowed by a great fish. After praying from inside the animal, he goes to Nineveh and preaches the shortest sermon in the Bible — and the whole city repents. The ending is the point: Jonah is furious precisely because God forgave. The book closes with an unanswered question, directed at the prophet and the reader, about God's right to have compassion on those we write off.