Jonah

About Jonah

Jonah is the story of a prophet who runs from God rather than preach to Nineveh, capital of Israel's cruelest enemy. A storm, a great fish, and a citywide repentance later, the real surprise lands: Jonah is angry that God is merciful. The book ends with God's gentle, unanswered question about His care for a city full of people who don't know better. In the Bible's story, Jonah stretches God's compassion beyond Israel's borders and points ahead to a mission for all nations.

Written by

The book is anonymous; it tells the story of Jonah son of Amittai, a prophet mentioned in 2 Kings, and tradition credits Jonah himself while many scholars think a later writer told his story.

When

Jonah lived in the 700s BC during the reign of Jeroboam II, but scholars genuinely differ on when the book was written, with some placing it centuries afterward.

Themes

• You can't outrun God
• Mercy for enemies
• God's compassion for outsiders
• Repentance
• The prophet's stubborn heart

Key verses

• Jonah 2:9But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
• Jonah 4:2And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
• Jonah 4:11And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?