PROPHET OF ISRAEL IN THE DAYS OF JEROBOAM SON OF JOASH, SENT TO NINEVEH · TWO KINGDOMS

Jonah. He foretold Israel's restored borders, fled from a call to Nineveh, and preached there.

SCRIPTURE CALLS

Prophet

ERA

Two kingdoms 930–586 BC

IN THE DAYS OF

Jeroboam son of Joash · The king of Nineveh

BOOK

Jonah

HOW THE WORD CAME

The first word (Jonah 1:1–3)

THE CALL

Called, as two accounts tell it

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”

Jonah 1:2 (KJV) →

HOW THE WORD KEPT COMING

  • “The word of the LORD came unto Jonah”, once at the start of the book and again “the second time”. Jonah 1:1 Jonah 3:1
  • From the textKings gives the outcome of his word to Jeroboam's Israel but not its words. 2 Kings 14:25
  • In Nineveh his preaching is given as one sentence: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
  • He prayed from the fish's belly, and prayed again in anger when Nineveh was spared; the LORD answered him with questions. Jonah 2:1–9 Jonah 4:2–4 Jonah 4:9–11

BEFORE THE KINGS

Before two rulers

KING OF ISRAEL

Jeroboam son of Joash

“He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain”

2 Kings 14:25 (KJV) →

RULER

The king of Nineveh (not named)

“Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”

Jonah 3:9 (KJV) →

THE MESSAGE

The word in its main themes

Nineveh's overthrow announced

“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Jonah 3:4 (KJV) →

God turns when they turn

“And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

Jonah 3:10 (KJV) →

“Salvation is of the LORD”

“I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me”

Jonah 2:2 (KJV) →

“Salvation is of the LORD.”

Jonah 2:9 (KJV) →

Why he fled

“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 4:2 (KJV) →

Should not I spare Nineveh?

“And 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?”

Jonah 4:11 (KJV) →

THE WORD TO …

To whom the word was spoken

TO THE MARINERS

“I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.”

Jonah 1:9 (KJV) →

TO NINEVEH

“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Jonah 3:4 (KJV) →

SIGNS

Signs and wonders

WONDER

The storm and the lot

WONDER

The great fish

SIGN

Nineveh in sackcloth

WONDER

The gourd, the worm and the east wind

WHAT CAME OF THE WORD

As Scripture reports it

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE BOOK

The book of Jonah

  • 1 The call and the flight to sea Jonah 1:1–16
  • 2 The great fish and Jonah's prayer Jonah 1:17–2:10
  • 3 Nineveh hears and repents Jonah 3:1–10
  • 4 Jonah's anger and the gourd Jonah 4:1–11

WHERE THE NEW TESTAMENT QUOTES IT · 3

Each band joins a chapter of Jonah to the New Testament books quoting it (2 books).

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Amittai

His father

The shipmaster and the mariners

The people of Nineveh

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • From the textThe book ends with the LORD's question, “should not I spare Nineveh”, and no answer from Jonah. Scripture says nothing of him afterwards, nor of his death. Jonah 4:9–11
  • Jesus answered those who asked for a sign: “there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:38–40
  • “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matthew 12:41 Luke 11:32
  • Luke: “as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” Matthew gives “the sign of the prophet Jonas” a second time. Luke 11:29–30 Matthew 16:4

TRADITION SAYS

  • A Jewish tradition reported by Jerome made Jonah the son of the widow of Zarephath whom Elijah raised; Keil calls it “nothing more than a Jewish Hagada”. 1 Kings 17:17–24 [3][14] Who says so: Jerome, preface to his commentary on Jonah, as reported by C. F. Keil (tr. 1868), about AD 395–397 (the 1893 translators give both years)
  • Keil reports a grave of Jonah shown at Meshad in Galilee and another at Nineveh, and gives them no more weight than the Zarephath story.[3] Who says so: As reported by C. F. Keil (tr. 1868), shown in the 19th century; the earliest source is not given

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

A true history

E. B. Pusey (1860s; printing of 1869), pp. 248, 255; C. F. Keil (tr. 1868), pp. 380–388; J. R. Sampey (ISBE 1915), who names Keil, Pusey, Delitzsch, Orelli and J. Kennedy as holding it

Pusey writes that “Our Lord relates it as a fact”. Keil argues that Jonah's three days could be a type of Christ's death and resurrection only if they had “as much objective reality as the facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ”, and so the book “relates historical facts”. Matthew 12:40–41 [4][3][7]

A teaching story on a basis of fact

S. R. Driver (1891), pp. 301–304

Driver finds “indications that it is not strictly historical” and a chiefly “didactic purpose”, but holds that the materials “rest ultimately upon a basis of fact” and that Jonah's preaching at Nineveh was successful, “though not upon the scale represented in the book”. Jonah 3:5–10 [5]

A parable

G. A. Smith (1898), pp. 498–500

Smith writes that the book does not “claim to be real history” but “offers to us all the marks of the parable or allegory”: the three days in the fish, the general account of Nineveh's conversion, and the abrupt close once the moral is plain. Jonah 1:17 Jonah 3:5 Jonah 4:11 [6]

An allegory of Israel's exile and return

O. Kleinert, T. K. Cheyne and C. H. H. Wright (as reported by Driver, 1891, p. 304)

On this view, as Driver summarises it, Jonah stands for Israel, which shrank from its calling, was “swallowed up” by Babylon and brought back, and then was disappointed that judgement on the nations did not come. Jonah 1:3 Jonah 1:17 Jonah 4:1 [5]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 8

2 Kings 14 Jonah 1 Jonah 2 Jonah 3 Jonah 4 Matthew 12 Matthew 16 Luke 11

PASSAGES · 5

2 Kings 14:23–27 Jonah 1:1–4:11 Matthew 12:38–41 Matthew 16:4 Luke 11:29–32

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Kings does not record the words of Jonah's prophecy to Jeroboam's Israel, only what came of it.
  • The book does not name the king of Nineveh, say where the fish cast Jonah up, or say what Jonah did after the LORD's last question.
  • Scripture does not say when or where Jonah died.
  • The book does not say that Jonah wrote it; it speaks of him in the third person.

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of the Kings (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), pp. 234–235 (Tishbe), 240–241 (the third year), 260–261 (Horeb; Elisha's call), 272–281 (Naboth; 1 Kings 22), 292–293 (the double portion), 299–300 (Bethel), 334–335 (2 Kings 8:10), 343 (2 Kings 9:25–26); read in the archive.org scan text.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. A. Harper, The Books of the Chronicles (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), pp. 396–398 (2 Chronicles 21:12–15); read in the archive.org scan text.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 1 (Keil and Delitzsch; translation first published 1868, this printing 1878) (1868), Introduction to Jonah, pp. 379–388; read in the archive.org scan text.
  • E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary (first issued in parts from 1860; printing of 1869) (1869), Introduction to Jonah, pp. 248 and 255; read in the archive.org scan text.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (1891), ch. VI, §5 (Jonah), pp. 300–304; read in the archive.org scan text.
  • George Adam Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. 2 (The Expositor's Bible) (1898), ch. XXXIV, The Book of Jonah, pp. 497–500 and 507–509; read in the archive.org scan text.
  • John Richard Sampey, “Jonah” and “Jonah, The Book of”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 3 (1915), pp. 1727–1729; read in the archive.org scan text.
  • F. K. Farr, “Elijah”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 2 (1915), p. 930; read in the archive.org scan text.
  • T. Witton Davies, “Sirach (Book of)”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 4 (1915), §VIII, Date (Davies: the Hebrew work about 200 BC; “scholars differ”); read in the archive.org scan text.
  • Justin Martyr, tr. M. Dods and G. Reith, Dialogue with Trypho, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1 (1885), ch. 49, pp. 219–220; checked in the archive.org scan text.
  • Tertullian, tr. P. Holmes, A Treatise on the Soul, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3 (1885), chs. 35 and 50, pp. 217 and 227; checked in the archive.org scan text.
  • Hippolytus, tr. S. D. F. Salmond, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5 (1886), §43, p. 213; checked in the archive.org scan text.
  • Augustine, tr. M. Dods, The City of God, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series 1, vol. 2 (1887), 20.29, p. 448; Schaff's preface for the dates 413–426; checked in the archive.org scan text.
  • Jerome, tr. W. H. Fremantle, Letters and Select Works, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series 2, vol. 6 (1893), Letter 108.13, p. 202; prolegomena chronology (Paula's death, 404; the commentary on Jonah, given as 395 in the notes on the prefaces and 397 in the table); checked in the archive.org scan text.
  • John Calvin, tr. William Pringle, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 2 (1845), on Matthew 11:14, Matthew 14:1–2 and Matthew 17:10–11 (CCEL transcription).
  • Rodger C. Young, Chronological tables: Table 1, Chronology of the Kings of Israel (Thiele's system as revised by McFall and Young; dates cited as facts only) (undated web tables, read 2026-10-07), Table 1 (Ahab, Jeroboam II), as used on the rulers-israel pages.
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897), note on 2 Chr 21:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on 2 Chr 21:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818), note on 2 Chr 21:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1683–1685), note on 2 Chr 21:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible (1871), note on 2 Chr 21:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • W. E. Barnes, The Books of Chronicles (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1899), note on 2 Chr 21:12 (read on Bible Hub).
  • W. E. Barnes, The Books of Chronicles (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1899), Introduction, §8.

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