Minor Prophets · Old Testament
Jonah
c. 760 BC
- Section
- Minor Prophets · Old Testament
- Events span
- c. 760 BC
- Written
- c. 760 BC critical view: c. 5th–4th century BC (post-exilic)
- Author
- Jonah son of Amittai critical view: An anonymous post-exilic author
Jonah, a prophet of Israel, is sent to preach to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, but flees the other way. Swallowed by a great fish and delivered, he finally warns the city — then resents God for sparing it when it repents.
Chronological placement: Dated to the reign of Jeroboam II (c. 760 BC), when 2 Kings 14:25 places Jonah's ministry — early among the writing prophets.
Key themes
- God's mercy to outsiders
- Running from God
- Repentance
- God's sovereignty over nature
- Compassion versus resentment
Key events
- God commands Jonah to preach against Nineveh, but he boards a ship for Tarshish to flee the LORD
- A violent storm rises; the sailors cast lots, and at his word throw Jonah overboard, and the sea grows calm
- A great fish swallows Jonah, and he stays inside it three days and three nights
- From inside the fish Jonah prays a psalm of thanksgiving, and the fish vomits him onto dry land
- "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown" — Jonah finally delivers his warning to the city
- The king and all Nineveh repent in sackcloth, and God relents from the destruction he had threatened
- Angry that God spared the city, Jonah sulks outside it and wishes to die
- God appoints a plant, a worm, and a scorching wind to teach Jonah about his compassion for Nineveh
“Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”