The Book of Jonah
The book of Jonah is the story of a prophet who runs from God's call and then resents God's mercy. Sent to preach against Nineveh, the great city of Assyria, Jonah son of Amittai boards a ship going the other way.
The story fills four short chapters. A storm stops his flight, the sailors cast lots, and Jonah is thrown into the sea, where a great fish swallows him and puts him back on dry land. Sent a second time, he walks into Nineveh with a one-line warning, and the whole city, from the king down, fasts and turns from its evil ways. God relents, Jonah is angry, and the book ends with a question from God that Jonah never answers.
Jonah is unusual among the Minor Prophets: it is mostly a story about the prophet, not a book of his sermons. Readers differ on whether to read it as history or as a story told to teach, and proposed dates of writing run from the prophet's own time in the 700s BC to after the exile. Jesus points back to it in Matthew 12.
This study follows Jonah in order, opening with an overview and then taking the story scene by scene, with other passages about Jonah and Nineveh such as 2 Kings 14 along the way. In Your Bible App, it comes as short, fun rounds that make the story stick.
Key people
Jonah
A prophet of Israel, the son of Amittai, who runs from God's call and is angry when Nineveh is spared.
The captain and the sailors
Foreign seamen who cry out to their own gods in the storm and end by fearing the LORD and offering Him a sacrifice.
The king of Nineveh
An unnamed ruler who leaves his throne, puts on sackcloth, and orders the whole city to fast and turn from evil.
The people of Nineveh
The people of Assyria's great city, who believe God's warning and repent, from the greatest of them to the least.
Themes
Mercy beyond Israel
God cares for a foreign city and its people, and even its cattle (Jonah 4:11).
Running from God
Jonah tries to flee "away from the presence of the LORD" (Jonah 1:3), but sea, storm and fish all answer to God.
A second chance
The word of the LORD comes to Jonah a second time, and Nineveh is given forty days to turn.
Repentance
A whole city turns from its evil ways, and God relents from the disaster He had threatened.
God over creation
God appoints a great fish, a vine, a worm and a scorching east wind to shape the story.
Key verses
Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.
When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
Jonah quiz: sample questions
The prophet instead fled in the opposite direction. Which seaport does the account say he went down to in order to board a vessel?
- Joppa, where he found a ship bound for Tarshish
- Sidon, the harbor north of Tyre
- Tyre, the merchant gateway of the sea
- Caesarea, on the coast
- Ezion-geber, on the shore of the Red Sea
Show the answer
Answer: Joppa, where he found a ship bound for Tarshish
Why: Rather than obeying, the prophet went down to Joppa, a port on the Mediterranean coast, and there found a ship bound for Tarshish. The other harbors named belong to other passages.
Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
Jonah gives the sailors a reason for the course of action he urges on them. Which of these is the reason he states?
- He wished to be carried back to Joppa, where he had paid his fare
- He knows that he is to blame for this violent storm that has come upon them
- The Lord had ordered him to flee toward Tarshish
- The sailors had refused to lighten the ship by throwing its cargo into the sea
- He was being taken as a prisoner to Rome, having appealed to Caesar
Show the answer
Answer: He knows that he is to blame for this violent storm that has come upon them
Why: Jonah answers the frightened crew with a reason for what he tells them to do: he knows that he himself is to blame for the violent storm that has come upon them.
“Pick me up,” he answered, “and cast me into the sea, so it may quiet down for you. For I know that I am to blame for this violent storm that has come upon you.”
In the first words of his prayer, what does Jonah say the LORD did when he cried out for help?
- He sent His angel to shut the mouths of the lions
- He answered him, and heard his voice from the belly of Sheol
- He hurled a great wind upon the sea, so that the ship threatened to break apart
- He appointed a worm to attack the plant, so that it withered
- He sent fire from heaven that consumed the offering on the altar
Show the answer
Answer: He answered him, and heard his voice from the belly of Sheol
Why: The prayer opens by recalling that Jonah called to the LORD in his distress and was answered, and that his voice was heard.
saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
Which of these does the book of Jonah say the people of Nineveh did when they believed God?
- They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth
- They built an altar and offered burnt offerings on it
- They circumcised every male among them
- They tore down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it
- They washed their clothes and consecrated themselves to meet the LORD
Show the answer
Answer: They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth
Why: Jonah 3:5 reports that the Ninevites believed God, proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth. The response is described as a public act of mourning and repentance by the city itself.
And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
Which statement describes how the book of Jonah ends?
- It ends with a genealogy of Jonah's descendants
- It ends with the destruction of Nineveh by fire from heaven
- It ends with a question the LORD puts to Jonah about Nineveh
- It ends with an account of Jonah's death and burial
Show the answer
Answer: It ends with a question the LORD puts to Jonah about Nineveh
Why: The book closes with the LORD putting a question to Jonah about his concern for Nineveh, and Jonah gives no recorded reply. The unanswered question is one reason the book reads unlike the other Minor Prophets.
So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”
Frequently asked questions
Was Jonah swallowed by a whale?
The book never says whale. It says the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17) and does not name the kind of creature; the word whale comes from older English Bibles.
Why did Jonah run away from God?
Jonah gives his own reason in Jonah 4:2: he knew the LORD is a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, and expected Him to spare Nineveh. He did not want the city spared.
Where was Nineveh?
Nineveh was a leading city of the Assyrian Empire, on the east bank of the Tigris River, across from modern Mosul in northern Iraq. The book calls it the great city (Jonah 1:2).
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