But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.
"To flee unto Tarshish ..." Present day commentators usually identify this place with a seaport just west of Gibralter on the southern coast of Spain, which was at the opposite extremity of the Mediterranean and exactly opposite from the direction of Nineveh.  It is far from certain, however, that this is the place referred to.  Josephus stated that it was Tarsus in Cilicia;[19]  "Tarshish apparently refers to more than one place in the Old Testament (1 Kings 22:48)."[20]  Myers thought it was, "more probably a place in Sardinia where there was a great iron smelter."[21]  Many questions which excite human curiosity are left unanswered in Jonah, as is true throughout all the Bible.