25 Facts About Jonah

Jonah is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, one of the minor prophets, which details his reluctance in delivering the judgment of God to the city of Nineveh in the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

In Judaism, the story of Jonah represents the teaching of repentance in Judaism, the ability to repent to God for forgiveness.

Many modern Bible scholars suggest the Book of Jonah is fictional, and at least partially satirical.

Jonah admits this and says that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease.

Jonah, exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and pleads for God to kill him.

The Book of Jonah is one of the twelve minor prophets included in the Hebrew Bible.

The Leviathan heard Jonah's threats, saw that he was circumcised, and realized that he was protected by the Lord, so it fled in terror, leaving Jonah and the fish alive.

Nevertheless, when Gentiles come there he gives them no fruit, but when Jews come he gives them a friendly reception, saying, Jonah, son of Amittai, was a Jew, therefore it is due to you to partake of what is his, and then gives to the Jews to eat thereof.

Jonah is mentioned twice in the fourteenth chapter of the Vaticanus version of deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, the conclusion of which finds Tobit's son, Tobias, rejoicing at the news of Nineveh's destruction by Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus in apparent fulfillment of Jonah's prophecy against the Assyrian capital.

Jonah is regarded as a saint by a number of Christian denominations.

Jonah being in swallowed by the giant fish was regarded as a foreshadowing of Jesus's crucifixion and Jonah emerging from the fish after three days was seen as a parallel for Jesus emerging from the tomb after three days.

Luther questioned the idea that the Book of Jonah was ever intended as literal history, commenting that he found it hard to believe that anyone would have interpreted it as such if it were not in the Bible.

Luther's antisemitic interpretation of Jonah remained the prevailing interpretation among German Protestants throughout early modern history.

Jonah is the title of the tenth chapter of the Quran.

Jonah is the only one of Judaism's Twelve Minor Prophets to be named in the Quran.

In Quran 21:87 and 68:48, Jonah is called Dhul-Nun.

Jonah is mentioned in a few incidents during the lifetime of Muhammad.

The ninth-century Persian historian Al-Tabari records that, while Jonah was inside the fish, "none of his bones or members were injured".

Jonah's rejection of God's commands is a parody of the obedience of the prophets described in other Old Testament writings.

The Book of Jonah employs elements of literary absurdism; it exaggerates the size of the city of Nineveh to an implausible degree and incorrectly refers to the administrator of the city as a "king".

Jonah translated koilia ketous as ventre ceti in Matthew 12:40: this second case occurs only in this verse of the New Testament.

Since then, the "great fish" in Jonah 2 has been most often interpreted as a whale.

The debate over the fish in the Book of Jonah played a major role during Clarence Darrow's cross-examination of William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial in 1925.

In Turkish, "Jonah's fish" is the term used for dolphins.

The story of Jonah was adapted into Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki's animated film Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.