Boys · Hebrew · Old Testament · rising · Divided monarchy (8th century BC)
Jonah
/JOH-nuh/
יוֹנָה
"Dove"
Jonah 1:1
RoleProphet; reluctant missionary
Etymology
From 'yonah' (יוֹנָה), meaning dove. The dove symbolises peace, gentleness, and the Spirit of God. The irony is that Jonah was anything but gentle — he was furious, stubborn, and ran from God.
Who they were
Jonah is the prophet who said no. God told him to go east to Nineveh and preach. Jonah boarded a ship going west to Tarshish — the opposite direction, as far as the known world extended. God sent a storm. The sailors cast lots; they fell on Jonah. He told them to throw him overboard. They did. God provided a great fish — the text says 'dag gadol', not whale — and Jonah spent three days in its belly before being vomited onto dry land. This time he obeyed. He went to Nineveh and preached the shortest, least enthusiastic sermon in scripture: 'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.' To his horror, the city repented — from the king to the cattle. God relented from judgment. And Jonah was furious. 'Isn't this what I said would happen?' he complained. 'That's why I ran. I knew you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.' He wanted Nineveh destroyed. He sat outside the city and sulked. God grew a plant to shade him, then sent a worm to kill the plant. Jonah wished for death. God's final words to Jonah — and the book's last verse — are a question: 'Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left — and also many animals?' The book ends without Jonah answering. Jesus cited Jonah as a sign of his own death and resurrection: 'as Jonah was three days in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the earth.' But the book's real subject is not the fish. It's about whether God's mercy has limits — and whether we want it to.
Family
- Father
- Amittai
Character qualities
- Honest refusal
- Courage to be thrown into the sea
- Reluctant obedience
- Anger at God's mercy
- Refusal to celebrate grace for enemies
Key verse
Jonah 4:11
Where they appear
Themes
Variants & related forms
Jonas · Yunus
Read their story
Jonah's story begins in Jonah.
The full passage is at Jonah 1:1. Any modern translation will do — the NLT and NIV are the most readable; the ESV and NKJV stay close to the wording the church has used for centuries.
Find a Bible to read it in →