"Jonah knows what he has to do – he has to go to Nineveh, and the climax of this heart-changing literally near-death experience is at the end of verse 9 when he says, Salvation belongs to the Lord! The wayward prophet now accepts that God can save whoever He wants to, whenever He wants to, however He wants to. If He wants to extend mercy to the pagan Assyrians at Nineveh, that's His divine prerogative and Jonah's opinion is of no concern to the Lord. He's not asking anyone who He should save. Romans 9:15 says I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So Jonah's calling to Nineveh then is really a picture of God's sovereign mercy, and these five words--salvation belongs to the Lord--are the central theme of the book and friends they are the preeminent point of the entire Bible – all of redemptive history--salvation belongs to the Lord!"