Page "Book of Jonah" Paragraph 19

In the line 2: 1 the book refers to the fish as dag gadol, " great fish ", in the masculine.

However, in the 2: 2, it changes the gender to daga, meaning female fish.

The verses therefore read: " And the lord provided a great fish ( dag gadol, masculine ) for Jonah, and it swallowed him, and Jonah sat in the belly of the fish ( still male ) for three days and nights ; then, from the belly of the ( daga, female ) fish, Jonah began to pray.

" The peculiarity of this change of gender led the later rabbis to reason that this means Jonah was comfortable in the roomy male fish, so he didn't pray, but that God then transferred him to a smaller, female fish, in which the prophet was uncomfortable, so that he prayed.