Jonah or Jonas is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, in which he is called upon by God to travel to Nineveh and warn its residents of impending divine wrath. Instead, Jonah boards a ship to Tarshish. Caught in a storm, he orders the ship's crew to cast him overboard, whereupon he is swallowed by a giant fish. Three days later, after Jonah agrees to go to Nineveh, the fish vomits him out onto the shore. Jonah successfully convinces the entire city of Nineveh to repent, but waits outside the city in expectation of its destruction.
Introduction
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Jonah | Introduction
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Jonah or Jonas is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, in which he is called upon by God to travel to Nineveh and warn its residents of impending divine wrath. Instead, Jonah boards a ship to Tarshish. Caught in a storm, he orders the ship's crew to cast him overboard, whereupon he is swallowed by a giant fish. Three days later, after Jonah agrees to go to Nineveh, the fish vomits him out onto the shore. Jonah successfully convinces the entire city of Nineveh to repent, but waits outside the city in expectation of its destruction.
Jonah | Introduction
Jonah is a prophet described in the scriptures of Abrahamic religions as having been swallowed by a large fish. Jonah may also refer to:
Jonah (disambiguation) | Introduction
The story of a man surviving after being swallowed by a whale or giant fish is classified in the catalogue of folktale types as ATU 1889G.
Jonah | Scholarly interpretations
He allows himself to be thrown overboard to calm the storm, and is saved from drowning by being swallowed by a "great fish". Over three days, Jonah commits to God's will, and he is vomited safely onto the shore. He subsequently goes to Nineveh and preaches to its inhabitants. Jonah's passage through the belly of the whale can be viewed as a symbolic death and rebirth in Jungian analysis.
Hero's journey | Belly of the Whale
They illustrate the fact that the devotee at the moment of entry into a temple undergoes a metamorphosis. ... Once inside he may be said to have died to time and returned to the World Womb, the World Navel, the Earthly Paradise. ... Allegorically, then, the passage into a temple and the hero-dive through the jaws of the whale are identical adventures, both denoting in picture language, the life-centering, life-renewing act. In the exemplary Book of Jonah, the eponymous Israelite refuses God's command to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh and attempts to flee by sailing to Tarshish. A storm arises, and the sailors cast lots to determine that Jonah is to blame.
Hero's journey | Belly of the Whale
Jonah (played by Archibald Asparagus) is a Prophet of ancient Israel who goes from town to town delivering God's messages. One night, God asks him to deliver a message to Nineveh, a town notorious for its corrupt citizens. Jonah resents God and decides to run away to Tarshish with The Pirates. After leaving port, a guilt-stricken Jonah goes below deck to rest where he meets a salesman caterpillar named Khalil, who agrees to go with Jonah to sell his merchandise.
Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie | Plot
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. Darrow asked Bryan "When you read that... the whale swallowed Jonah... how do you literally interpret that?" Bryan replied that "a God who can make a whale and can make a man and make both of them do what He pleases." Bryan ultimately admitted that it was necessary to interpret the Bible, and is generally regarded as having come off looking like a "buffoon". The largest whales—baleen whales, a group which includes the blue whale—eat plankton and "it is commonly said that this species would be choked if it attempted to swallow a herring." As for the whale shark, Dr.
Jonah | Scientific speculation
In both the Bible and the Quran, Jonah is swallowed by a "big fish", usually inferred to be a whale. The Book of Jonah in the Bible consists of four chapters about Jonah's mission to Nineveh. Jonah is referenced three times in the Quran: in verses 139–148 of Sura 37 (As-Saaffat) (Those who set the ranks), verses 87–88 of Sura 21: al-Anbiya' (The Prophets) and verses 48–50 of Sura 68: al-Qalam (The Pen)/Nun. It is mentioned in verse 98 of Sura 10: Yunus (Jonah) and verse 86 of Sura 6: al-An'am (The Cattle). In the Quran, Jonah gets frustrated by his own people and abandons them to God's mercy, however without asking permission from God and thus going against his given responsibility.
Biblical and Quranic narratives | Jonah (Yunus) and the big fish
They repeated this experiment several times, each time lowering him deeper, but taking him out again, and each time with the same result, until finally they threw him into the sea.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | The ship
God then resolved to put him into another fish where he would be less comfortable. A female fish quick with young approached the male fish in which Jonah was, threatening to devour both unless Jonah were transferred to her, and announcing her divine orders to that effect. Leviathan confirmed her story at the request of both fishes, and then Jonah was ejected from one fish into the over-filled belly of the other. Cramped for room and otherwise made miserable, Jonah finally prayed, acknowledging the futility of his efforts to escape from God. But he was not answered until he had promised to redeem his pledge to capture Leviathan.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | Fish
Jonah Who Lived in the Whale (), in the United States released as (Look to the Sky) is a 1993 Italian-French drama film directed by Roberto Faenza, based on the autobiographical novel by the writer Jona Oberski entitled "Childhood" (Kinderjaren), focused on the drama of the Holocaust. It was entered into the 18th Moscow International Film Festival, where it won the Prix of Ecumenical Jury.
Jonah Who Lived in the Whale | Introduction
Some mainstream Bible scholars generally regard the Book of Jonah as fictional and often at least partially satirical, but the character of Jonah may have been based on the historical prophet of the same name mentioned in . Although the word "whale" is often used in English versions of the Jonah story, the Hebrew text actually uses the phrase "dag gadol", which means "giant fish". In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the species of the fish that swallowed Jonah was the subject of speculation for naturalists, who interpreted the story as an account of a historical incident. Some modern scholars of folklore have noted similarities between Jonah and other legendary figures, specifically Gilgamesh and the Greek hero Jason.
Jonah | Introduction
However, Jonah survives and, back to Amsterdam, is adopted in his father's employer home where, after an initial period of suffering, he regains the will to live.
Jonah Who Lived in the Whale | Plot
In the Quran, it is also mentioned that if Jonah had not prayed inside the belly of the fish he would have stayed in there until the Judgement day. In the Bible, Jonah pays a fare to sail to Tarshish. In both stories, he boards the ship loaded with passengers, lots are cast and Jonah is thrown overboard and swallowed by a large fish (, As-Saaffat 37|142). After praying, he is cast out of the fish and washed ashore, and God causes a gourd to grow (37|146) or weeds (). In the Bible, Jonah continues into Nineveh, and the city is spared by God.
Biblical and Quranic narratives | Jonah (Yunus) and the big fish
Kisai Marvazi, a tenth-century poet, records that Jonah's father was seventy years old when Jonah was born and that he died soon afterwards, leaving Jonah's mother with nothing but a wooden spoon, which turned out to be a cornucopia.
Jonah | Hadiths
Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah, in which God commands him to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it "for their great wickedness is come up before me," but Jonah instead attempts to flee from "the presence of the Lord" by going to Jaffa (sometimes transliterated as "Joppa" or "Joppe"), and sailing to Tarshish. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to throw Jonah overboard.
Jonah | Book of Jonah
Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah, in which God commands him to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it "for their great wickedness is come up before me," but Jonah instead attempts to flee from "the presence of the Lord" by going to Jaffa and sailing to Tarshish. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to throw Jonah overboard.
Book of Jonah | Summary
The Book of Jonah (Yonah יונה) is one of the twelve minor prophets included in the Tanakh. According to one tradition, Jonah was the boy brought back to life by Elijah the prophet in . Another tradition holds that he was the son of the woman of Shunem brought back to life by Elisha in and that he is called the "son of Amittai" ("Truth") due to his mother's recognition of Elisha's identity as a prophet in . The Book of Jonah is read every year, in its original Hebrew and in its entirety, on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement, as the Haftarah at the afternoon mincha prayer.
Jonah | In Judaism
According to Rabbi Eliezer, the fish that swallowed Jonah was created in the primordial era and the inside of its mouth was like a synagogue; the fish's eyes were like windows and a pearl inside its mouth provided further illumination. According to the Midrash, while Jonah was inside the fish, it told him that its life was nearly over because soon the Leviathan would eat them both. Jonah promised the fish that he would save them. Following Jonah's directions, the fish swam up alongside the Leviathan and Jonah threatened to leash the Leviathan by its tongue and let the other fish eat it.
Jonah | In Judaism
The fish informed Jonah that he was to be devoured by Leviathan. Jonah asked to be taken to the monster, when he would save both his own life and that of the fish. Meeting Leviathan, he exhibited the "seal of Abraham," whereupon the monster shot away a distance of two days. To reward him for this service the fish showed Jonah all the wondrous things in the ocean (e.g., the path of the Israelites across the Red Sea; the pillars upon which the earth rests). Thus he spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, but would not pray.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | Fish
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. The medieval Jewish scholar and rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (1092 – 1167) argued against any literal interpretation of the Book of Jonah, stating that the "experiences of all the prophets except Moses were visions, not actualities." The later scholar Isaac Abarbanel (1437 – 1509), however, argued that Jonah could have easily survived in the belly of the fish for three days, because "after all, fetuses live nine months without access to fresh air." Teshuva – the ability to repent and be forgiven by God – is a prominent idea in Jewish thought.
Jonah | In Judaism
After two days the fish casts him out the beach of an island and he is very weak. The gastric juices with the hot sunlight burned his skin till the point he was about to scream of pain. God causes a vine to grow over him and provide him fruit and shade. He recovers and goes back to his people who had become good after he left. According to the Bible, Ninevah was a great city, with more than one hundred twenty thousand people and much livestock (). In the Quran, the number of people he was sent towards as a prophet exceeded a hundred thousand.
Biblical and Quranic narratives | Jonah (Yunus) and the big fish
God shields Jonah from the sun with a plant, but later sends a worm to cause it to wither. When Jonah complains of the bitter heat, God rebukes him. In Judaism, the story of Jonah represents the teaching of "teshuva", which is the ability to repent and be forgiven by God. In the New Testament, Jesus calls himself "greater than Jonah" and promises the Pharisees "the sign of Jonah", which is his resurrection. Early Christian interpreters viewed Jonah as a type for Jesus. Jonah is regarded as a prophet in Islam and the biblical narrative of Jonah is repeated, with a few notable differences, in the Quran.
Jonah | Introduction
Though modern readers often equate Jonah's fish with a whale, the Hebrew text, as throughout scripture, refers to no marine species in particular, simply saying "great fish" or "big fish" (modern taxonomists classify whales as mammals and not as fish, but cultures in antiquity made no such distinction). While some biblical scholars suggest the size and habits of the great white shark correspond better to the representations of Jonah's experiences, normally an adult human is too large to be swallowed whole. The development of whaling from the 18th century onwards made it clear that most, if not all, species of whale could not swallow a human, leading to much controversy about the veracity of the biblical story of Jonah.
Jonah | Translation
In Jungian analysis, the belly of the whale can be seen as a symbolic death and rebirth, which is also an important stage in comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey". NCSY director of education David Bashevkin sees Jonah as a thoughtful prophet who comes to religion out of a search for theological truth and is constantly disappointed by those who come to religion to provide mere comfort in the face of adversity inherent to the human condition. "If religion is only a blanket to provide warmth from the cold, harsh realities of life," Bashevkin imagines Jonah asking, "did concerns of theological truth and creed even matter?" The lesson taught by the episode of the tree at the end of the book is that comfort is a deep human need that religion provides, but this need not obscure the role of God.
Book of Jonah | Modern
As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to God. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to giving thanks and to paying what he has vowed. God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out. God again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. This time he goes and enters the city, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown." After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast.
Jonah | Book of Jonah
The Prophet Jonah is one of the seven Old Testament prophets painted by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo (c. 1542–1545) on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Sistine Chapel is in Vatican Palace, in the Vatican City. This particular fresco is painted above the High Altar, as the person of Jonah is of prophetic significance in Christianity. Behind the figure of Jonah, Michelangelo has painted a large fish, a reference to the fact that in the Book of Jonah, Jonah is swallowed by one.
Prophet Jonah (Michelangelo) | Introduction
As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to God. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed. God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out. God again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. This time he goes and enters the city, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown." After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast.
Book of Jonah | Summary
Jonah was induced to flee because, after having won his reputation as a true prophet ("one whose words always came true") by the fulfilment of his prediction in the days of Jeroboam II, he had come to be distrusted and to be called a false prophet, the reason being that when sent to Jerusalem to foretell its doom its inhabitants repented and the disaster did not come. Knowing that the Ninevites also were on the point of repenting ("kerovei teshubah"), he anticipated that among them, too, God would earn the reputation of being a false God, or His Shekinah, could not be found.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | Reason for flight
Instead of listening to God, Jonah fled to Tarshish, across the Mediterranean Sea. During his voyage, a violent storm occurred. The other sailors feared the boat would be completely destroyed and kill everyone if they did not get rid of Jonah, so they decided to throw Jonah overboard. As soon as Jonah hit the water, a giant fish swallowed Jonah whole. Jonah found himself in the dark stomach of the fish. Jonah began to pray earnestly for God to save him and, for three days and nights, Jonah prayed and asked for forgiveness for his disobedience.
Assyrian culture | "Baʿutha d-Ninwaye" ('Fast of Nineveh')
Fish were sacred to the Syrian goddess Atargatis and, during her festivals, only her priests were permitted to eat them. In the Book of Jonah, a work of Jewish literature probably written in the fourth century BC, the central figure, a prophet named Jonah, is swallowed by a giant fish after being thrown overboard by the crew of the ship he is travelling on. The fish later vomits Jonah out on shore after three days. This book was later included as part of the Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, and a version of the story it contains is summarized in Surah 37:139-148 of the Quran.
Fish | Culture
As Rydberg concluded: "So was the heathen allegory knit with the Christian, and Jonah, under the pencil of Raphael became, not the aged, long-bearded prophet, clothed in a mantle, but the youthfully fair, nude pagan Antinous, now free from all pain, and rejoicing that life has vanquished death."
Jonah (Lorenzetto) | Literature
As soon as God had his promise, He beckoned to the fish and it spat out Jonah upon the dry land, a distance of 968 parasangs (3609 miles).
Jonah in rabbinic literature | Fish
Muhammad asked Addas where he was from and the servant replied Nineveh. "The town of Jonah the just, son of Amittai!" Muhammad exclaimed. Addas was shocked because he knew that the pagan Arabs had no knowledge of the prophet Jonah. He then asked how Muhammad knew of this man. "We are brothers," Muhammad replied. "Jonah was a Prophet of God and I, too, am a Prophet of God." Addas immediately accepted Islam and kissed the hands and feet of Muhammad. One of the sayings of Muhammad, in the collection of Imam Bukhari, says that Muhammad said "One should not say that I am better than Jonah".
Jonah | Hadiths
A similar statement occurs in a hadith written by Yunus bin Yazid, the second caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt, an older contemporary of Muhammad, taught that, had Jonah not prayed to Allah, he would have remained trapped inside the fish until Judgement Day, but, because of his prayer, Jonah "stayed only a few days within the belly of the fish". The ninth-century Persian historian Al-Tabari records that, while Jonah was inside the fish, "none of his bones or members were injured". Al-Tabari also writes that Allah made the body of the fish transparent, allowing Jonah to see the "wonders of the deep" and that Jonah heard all the fish singing praises to Allah.
Jonah | Hadiths
Hamel takes the view that it was the Hebrew author who reacted to and adapted this mythological material to communicate his own, quite different message.
Jonah | Jason from Greek mythology
The fish which swallowed Jonah had been created in the very beginning of the world in order to perform this work. Therefore, this fish had so large a mouth and throat that Jonah found it as easy to pass into its belly as he would have found it to enter the portals of a very large synagogue. It had eyes which were as large as windows, and lamps lit up its interior. According to another opinion, a great pearl suspended in the entrails of the fish enabled Jonah to see all that was in the sea and in the abyss.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | Fish
In Jonah 2:1 (1:17 in English translations), the Hebrew text reads "dag gadol" (דג גדול) or, in the Hebrew Masoretic Text, "dāḡ gā·ḏō·wl" (דָּ֣ג גָּד֔וֹל), which means "great fish". The Septuagint translates this phrase into Greek as "kētei megalōi" (κήτει μεγάλῳ), meaning "huge fish". In Greek mythology, the same word meaning "fish" ("kêtos") is used to describe the sea monster slain by the hero Perseus that nearly devoured the Princess Andromeda. Jerome later translated this phrase as in his Latin Vulgate. He translated "kétos", however, as "ventre ceti" in Matthew : this second case occurs only in this verse of the New Testament.
Jonah | Translation
James Bartley (1870–1909) is the central figure in a late nineteenth-century story according to which he was swallowed whole by a sperm whale. He was found still living days later in the stomach of the whale, which was dead from constipation. The story originated of an anonymous firm, began to appear in American newspapers. The anonymous article appeared in the "St. Louis Globe Democrat" of Saint Louis, Missouri, then the note appeared in other newspapers with the title "A Modern Jonah" or something similar in multiple newspapers. The news spread beyond the ocean in articles as "Man in a Whale's Stomach.
James Bartley | Introduction
At some point "cetus" became synonymous with "whale" (the study of whales is now called "cetology"). In his 1534 translation, William Tyndale translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe" and the word "kétos" (Greek) or "cetus" (Latin) in as "whale". Tyndale's translation was later incorporated into the Authorized Version of 1611. Since then, the "great fish" in Jonah 2 has been most often interpreted as a whale. In English some translations use the word "whale" for Matthew 12:40, while others use "sea creature" or "big fish".
Jonah | Translation
In Jonah 2:1 (1:17 in English translation), the Hebrew text reads "dag gadol" (), which literally means "great fish". The Septuagint translates this phrase into Greek as "mega kētos" (). This was at the start of more widespread depiction of real whales in Greece and "kētos" would cover proven whales, sharks and the old meaning of curious sea monsters. Jerome later translated this phrase as "piscis grandis" in his Latin Vulgate. However, he translated the Greek word "kētos" as "cetus" in Gospel of Matthew 12:40. The English opts for the former: ""For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.""
Cetus (mythology) | Jonah's "great fish"
The prophet also bears a cloak thrown over his left shoulder, and the usual mitre-shaped turban, with upturned flaps. The statue seems to have received the same special care that was bestowed on Daniel, and there is no evidence of finishing work from Aleijadinho's shop. Included in this piece are two additional aspects of creative genius that display a capacity for dramatic expression. The front view of the statue is as ornamental as the back, and the sinuous silhouette of the whale, complete with toothy maw, seems to emerge as if from a Rococo fountain.
Twelve Prophets of Aleijadinho | Jonah
In the Bible especially, the leviathan plays a role as a sea monster. The essence, which features a giant crocodile or a dragon and a whale, was created according to the Bible by God and should again be destroyed by him. In the Book of Job, the leviathan is described in more detail. In Jonah there is a more recognizable description of a whale alongside the prophet Jonah, who, on his flight from the city of Nineveh is swallowed by a whale.
Cetacea | Antiquity
Indeed, everything that was spoken by the prophets of Israel, whom God sent, will occur. However, some versions, such as the King James Version, refer to the prophet Jonah instead.
Book of Nahum | Importance
Now I shall die," and, he indeed died within minutes. That same evening, a ten-year-old boy named Nicholas Dergachev, who was crippled, had been suffering from an inflammation of the knee joints. All medical efforts had proven fruitless. He was unable to walk, or even to stand. The boy had a dream. "A hierarch vested in white appeared to him and said, "Here, take my legs. I don't need them anymore. And give me yours." He woke up and "was miraculously healed". From a photograph he later identified the hierarch in his dream as Bishop Jonah, who had died that same night, October 7/20, 1925." Though his life was short, his memory endured long after his death.
Jonah of Hankou | Death
The Book of Jonah is a book of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible. It tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah son of Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission. Set in the reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 BC), it was probably written in the post-exilic period, some time between the late 5th to early 4th century BC. The story has a long interpretive history and has become well known through popular children's stories. In Judaism, it is the Haftarah portion read during the afternoon of Yom Kippur to instill reflection on God's willingness to forgive those who repent; it remains a popular story among Christians.
Book of Jonah | Introduction
E. W. Gudger, an Honorary Associate in Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History, notes that, while the whale shark does have a large mouth, its throat is only four inches wide, with a sharp elbow or bend behind the opening, meaning that not even a human arm would be able to pass through it. He concludes that "the whale shark is not the fish that swallowed Jonah."
Jonah | Scientific speculation
Jonah is also mentioned in a few incidents during the lifetime of Muhammad. In some instances, Jonah's name is spoken of with praise and reverence by Muhammad. According to historical narrations about Muhammad's life, after ten years of receiving revelations, Muhammad went to the city of Ta’if to see if its leaders would allow him to preach his message from there rather than Mecca, but he was cast from the city by the people. He took shelter in the garden of Utbah and Shaybah, two members of the Quraysh tribe. They sent their servant, Addas, to serve him grapes for sustenance.
Jonah | Hadiths
The statue of Prophet Jonah was part of the original decorative scheme of the chapel by Raphael. One of the main iconographic themes in the funerary chapel of Agostino Chigi was resurrection of the dead. In this context the adventure of Jonah, who was swallowed by a large fish and spewed out three days later by the command of God, was a symbol of overcoming death. Jesus himself said that this miraculous episode in the Old Testament prefigured his own resurrection: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." — Gospel of Matthew 12:40 John Shearman assumed that the statue of Jonah was planned for the niche to the right of the altar because this place offered the best angle to view the composition.
Jonah (Lorenzetto) | History
They believed in his message and God granted them prosperity for a long time. (As-Saaffat 37|147–148). In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the Ninevites repenting at the preaching of Jonah (, ).
Biblical and Quranic narratives | Jonah (Yunus) and the big fish
The statue of Jonah and the whale is a marble sculpture by Lorenzetto in the niche to the left of the altar in the Chigi Chapel, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. The sculptor followed the original designs of his mentor, Raphael, who was the architect of the chapel. This is the only sculpture that Raphael himself designed and was executed according to his intentions.
Jonah (Lorenzetto) | Introduction
Pliny the Elder's "Natural History" tells the story of a giant fish, which he names "pristis", of immense size. The "Alexander Romance" includes the story of a giant whale-island in Alexander's letter to Aristotle about India. A similar tale is part of the First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor. The allegory of the Aspidochelone borrows from the account of whales in Saint Isidore of Seville's "Etymologiae". Isidore cites the prophet Jonah; the Vulgate translation of the Book of Jonah translates Jonah 2:2 as "Exaudivit me de ventre inferni": "He (the Lord) heard me from the belly of Hell". He concludes that such whales must have bodies as large as mountains.
Aspidochelone | Sources of the story
The Hebrew text of Jonah reads "dag gadol" (Hebrew: דג גדול), which literally means "great fish". The Septuagint translates this into Greek as "ketos megas" (Greek: κῆτος μέγας), "huge fish"; in Greek mythology the term was closely associated with sea monsters. Saint Jerome later translated the Greek phrase as "piscis grandis" in his Latin Vulgate, and as "cetus" in Matthew. At some point, "cetus" became synonymous with whale (cf. cetyl alcohol, which is alcohol derived from whales). In his 1534 translation, William Tyndale translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe", and he translated the word "ketos" (Greek) or "cetus" (Latin) in Matthew as "whale".
Book of Jonah | Jonah and the "big fish"
Jonah is commemorated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church on 22 September. Christian theologians have traditionally interpreted Jonah as a type for Jesus Christ. 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. Saint Jerome equates Jonah with Jesus's more nationalistic side, and justifies Jonah's actions by arguing that "Jonah acts thus as a patriot, not so much that he hates the Ninevites, as that he does not want to destroy his own people." Other Christian interpreters, including Saint Augustine and Martin Luther, have taken a directly opposite approach, regarding Jonah as the epitome of envy and jealousness, which they regarded as inherent characteristics of the Jewish people.
Jonah | Post-Biblical views
Jonah's tribal affiliation is disputed; generally assigned to Asher, he is claimed for Zebulun by R. Johanan due to his place of residence. These opinions were harmonized by the assumption that his mother was of Asher while his father was of Zebulun. According to another authority, his mother was the woman of Zarephath who entertained Elijah. As this prophet, who was also of priestly descent, would have profaned himself if he had touched the corpse of a Jew, it was concluded that this woman, whose son (Jonah) he "took to his bosom" and revived, was a non-Jew. He received his prophetic appointment from Elisha, under whose orders he anointed Jehu.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | Early life
The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance. God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time. The entire city is humbled and broken with the people (and even the animals) in sackcloth and ashes. Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his earlier flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful, it was inevitable that God would turn from the threatened calamities. He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed.
Jonah | Book of Jonah
Hnanishoʿ was no longer remembered and Timur was shown the tomb of the prophet Jonah himself. The 'tomb of Jonah' still exists, and visitors are still shown a heavy planewood coffin, reverently shrouded with a green cloth, in which the prophet supposedly lies buried. Some historians suspect that for the past six centuries the Muslim faithful have been paying their devotions to the petrified corpse of a Christian patriarch.
Hnanisho I | Posthumous miracles
Fish were sacred to the Syrian goddess Atargatis and, during her festivals, only her priests were permitted to eat them. In the Book of Jonah, a work of Jewish literature probably written in the fourth century BC, the central figure, a prophet named Jonah, is swallowed by a giant fish after being thrown overboard by the crew of the ship he is travelling on. The fish later vomits Jonah out on shore after three days. This book was later included as part of the Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, and a version of the story it contains is summarized in Surah 37:139-148 of the Quran.
Fish in culture | In folklore, religion and mythology
For example, Rimmer stated that Jonah could live after being swallowed by a whale because Rimmer postulated that there is special cavity in the heads of whales which are the whales' "breathing tanks" for underwater breathing. Rimmer also insisted that the passage where rabbits chew their cuds is the result of a mistaken translation, and claimed that camels do not have cloven hooves. Rimmer tried to use science to prove the veracity of the Bible. One of the sources he relied on was a speculative book by "Joshua's Long Day and the Dial of Ahaz" published by Charles Totten, an instructor in Military Science at Yale.
Harry Rimmer | Views
Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Jonah, the unwilling prophet on whom the Book of Jonah centers, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | Introduction
The storm which overtook Jonah is quoted as one of three most noteworthy storms. After the sailors' prayers to their idols, as well as their efforts to turn about and lighten the ship, had proved futile, the crew finally was compelled to believe Jonah's statement that this calamity had befallen their craft on his account, and assented to his petition to be thrown overboard. Praying that they might not be held accountable for his death, they first lowered him far enough for the waters to touch his knees. Seeing that the storm subsided, they drew him back into the ship, whereupon the sea at once rose again.
Jonah in rabbinic literature | The ship
It is also retold in the Quran.
Book of Jonah | Introduction
The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance. God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time. The entire city is humbled and broken with the people (and even the animals) in sackcloth and ashes. Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his earlier flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful, it was inevitable that God would turn from the threatened calamities. He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed.
Book of Jonah | Summary
Jonah () is the title of the tenth chapter of the Quran. He is traditionally viewed as highly important in Islam as a prophet who was faithful to Allah and delivered His messages. Jonah is the only one of the Twelve Minor Prophets to be mentioned by name in the Quran. In Surahs and 68:48, Jonah is called Dhul-Nūn (; meaning "The One of the Fish"). In 4:163 and 6:86, he is referred to as "an apostle of Allah". Surah 37:139-148 retells the full story of Jonah: The Quran never mentions Jonah's father, but Muslim tradition teaches that Jonah was from the tribe of Benjamin and that his father was Amittai.
Jonah | Quran
Jonah 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Jonah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Jonah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.
Jonah 1 | Introduction
The debate over the credibility of the miracle of Jonah is not simply a modern one. The credibility of a human being surviving in the belly of a great fish has long been questioned. In c. 409 AD, Augustine of Hippo wrote to Deogratias concerning the challenge of some to the miracle recorded in the Book of Jonah. He writes: Augustine responds that if one is to question one miracle, then one should question all miracles as well (section 31). Nevertheless, despite his apologetic, Augustine views the story of Jonah as a figure for Christ. For example, he writes: "As, therefore, Jonah passed from the ship to the belly of the whale, so Christ passed from the cross to the sepulchre, or into the abyss of death.
Book of Jonah | Augustine of Hippo
He was rescued by a Cavalry patrol, although they shot him in the gut when he tried to stop their slaughter. Left for dead a second time, he was nursed back to health by an old trapper in the woods. Returning to his tribe's camp, he found them long since gone.
Jonah Hex | Origins
According to scholars, no human being could realistically survive for three days inside a fish, and the description of the livestock in Nineveh fasting alongside their owners is "silly".
Jonah | Parodic elements
In chapters 7-9, Ishmael, a sailor about to sail for Nantucket where he will embark on a whaling voyage with Captain Ahab on the "Pequod", goes to the Whaleman's Chapel in New Bedford. Father Mapple appears and climbs a rope ladder to his pulpit, which is the form of a ship's prow: "Its panelled front was in the likeness of a ship’s bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship's fiddle-headed beak." Father Mapple addresses the parishioners as "Shipmates" and leads them in a whaling hymn: Mapple then takes as his text "And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." The lesson, he says, is a "two-stranded lesson; a lesson to us all as sinful men, and a lesson to me as a pilot of the living God."
Father Mapple | Father Mapple's sermon
Tyndale's translation was later followed by the translators of the King James Version of 1611 and has enjoyed general acceptance in English translations. In line 2:1 the book refers to the fish as "dag gadol", "great fish", in the masculine. However, in 2:2, it changes the gender to "dagah", meaning female fish. The verses therefore read: "And the lord provided a great fish ("dag gadol", דָּג גּדוֹל, masculine) for Jonah, and it swallowed him, and Jonah sat in the belly of the fish (still male) for three days and nights; then, from the belly of the ("dagah", דָּגָה, female) fish, Jonah began to pray." The peculiarity of this change of gender led the later rabbis to reason that this means Jonah was comfortable in the roomy male fish, so he did not pray, but that God then transferred him to a smaller, female fish, in which the prophet was uncomfortable, so that he prayed.
Book of Jonah | Jonah and the "big fish"
And as Jonah suffered this for the sake of those who were endangered by the storm, so Christ suffered for the sake of those who are tossed on the waves of this world." Augustine credits his allegorical interpretation to the interpretation of Christ himself (Matt. 12:39,40), and he allows for other interpretations as long as they are in line with Christ's.
Book of Jonah | Augustine of Hippo
When Baithéne departed the following day to Tiree, Columba told him about the whale, and Baithéne responded that both he and the whale were in God's power, to which Columba responded 'Go in peace, your faith in Christ will shield you from danger'. And so Baithéne then took the direct route and the whale came out of the water which terrified all in the boat, except Baithéne, who used his hands to bless the sea and the whale, and the whale then went down into the water.
Baithéne mac Brénaind | Iona, Tiree, and Hinba
Jonah is a three-year-old Dutch boy who lives in Amsterdam during the Second World War. After the occupation of the city by the Germans, he was deported to the concentration camp together with his entire family in 1942. Here Jonah will spend the remainder of the war in a shack with his mother, but separated from his father. The child suffers cold, hunger, fear, deprivation, and even harassment by the other boys. He seldom encounters compassion: only the cook, who later dies, and the doctor of the clinic show him kindness. The fate of Jonah's parents is tragic: his father dies of exhaustion from being overworked and his mother succumbs in a hospital after the end of the war, having been driven insane by her ordeal and her husband's death.
Jonah Who Lived in the Whale | Plot
Years later when he returned again to rescue a kidnapped white woman, he was captured and White Fawn was shot dead by the chieftain for trying to help him escape. Jonah killed his adopted father in return and gunned down half the tribe who went after him, with the help of Henri d'Aubergnon.
Jonah Hex | Mark of the Demon
In Turkish, "Jonah fish" (in Turkish "yunus baligi") is the term used for dolphins. A long-established expression among sailors uses the term, "a Jonah", to mean a sailor or a passenger whose presence on board brings bad luck and endangers the ship. Later, this meaning was extended to mean, "a person who carries a jinx, one who will bring bad luck to any enterprise." Despite its brevity, the Book of Jonah has been adapted numerous times in literature and in popular culture. In Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" (1851), Father Mapple delivers a sermon on the Book of Jonah. Mapple asks why Jonah does not show remorse for disobeying God while he is inside of the fish.
Jonah | Cultural influence
Amittai (; ; ; ) was the father of the Prophet Jonah. He was also a native of Gath-hepher.
Amittai | Introduction
The contemporary drawing in Windsor shows it from this angle. Another evidence is a tondo in the Vatican loggias which was probably painted after a sketch of Raphael. In its originally intended - but probably never occupied - position in the niche to the right of the altar the prophet would have been looking down towards the aperture of the crypt under the chapel in front of the altar (this opening in the floor was later walled up by Bernini), and faced the entering visitor. At first Bernini planned to move the statue to its intended place as documented by a drawing in the Smith College Museum of Art but later he changed his mind, and gave this important niche to his own statue depicting Habakkuk.
Jonah (Lorenzetto) | Description
The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."" (Isaiah, XI, FH). In the relief Isaiah is standing, hands spread out, behind him light rays that symbolize his prophetic vision. At his feet, is the realization of his prophecy: a wolf hugging a lamb, a lion and a little calf.
Knesset Menorah | Jeremiah Opposite Isaiah
). In this Jonah was a type of Christ, who, amidst his agonies, sorrows, and sufferings, prayed to his Father, and claimed his interest in him as his God (cf. ).
Jonah 2 | Textual versions
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Jonah from Tonga | Introduction
The name in which he is known in Hebrew, Jonah ("dove", also spelled Yonah) was based on his Arabic patronymic ibn Janah ("the winged", also spelled ibn Janach). His Arabic personal name was Marwan, with the "kunyah" Abu al-Walid. Latin sources, including Avraham ibn Ezra referred to him as "Rabbi Marinus", a Latinization of his Arabic name Marwan.
Jonah ibn Janah | Name
The pamphlets were in Arabic and were never translated into Hebrew. The debates were unresolved during their lifetimes. Many were lost, but some were reprinted and translated into French.
Jonah ibn Janah | Dispute with Hayyuj's supporters
A whale's tooth, appropriate to Jonah's well-known adventure at sea, was said to be preserved there. A saint named Sheikh Rashid Lolan was also buried at the mosque under a domed tomb. It was one of the most important mosques in Mosul and one of the few historic mosques in the east side of the city.
Islamic sites of Mosul | Mosque of the Prophet Jonah
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, naturalists, interpreting the Jonah story as a historical account, became obsessed with trying to identify the exact species of the fish that swallowed Jonah. In the mid-nineteenth century, Edward Bouverie Pusey, professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, claimed that the Book of Jonah must have been authored by Jonah himself and argued that the fish story must be historically true, or else it would not have been included in the Bible. Pusey attempted to scientifically catalogue the fish, hoping to "shame those who speak of the miracle of Jonah's preservation in the fish as a thing less credible than any of God's other miraculous doings".
Jonah | Scientific speculation
The chapter also mentions the People of Jonah, who at first rejected Jonah's message, but then repented and believed. Therefore, unlike the people of Noah and Moses, they were averted from God's punishment. The mention of Jonah in verse 98 gives the chapter its name. The chapter then instructs Muhammad if he had any doubt about the truth of what was revealed to him, he could ask other People of the Book (i.e. the Jews and the Christians) who would be able to confirm the Quran's account of these people of the past.
Yunus (surah) | Content
The first use of the term "kikayon" is in the biblical book of "Jonah", Chapter 4. In the quote below, from the Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917, the English word 'gourd' occurs where the Hebrew has "kikayon." 6 And the God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his evil. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd. 7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. 8 And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said: ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’ 9 And God said to Jonah: ‘Art thou greatly angry for the gourd?’ And he said: ‘I am greatly angry, even unto death.’ 10 And the said: ‘Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night; 11 and should not I have pity on 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 4:6-11
Kikayon | Origins
Joseph Campbell suggests that the story of Jonah parallels a scene from the "Epic of Gilgamesh", in which Gilgamesh obtains a plant from the bottom of the sea. In the Book of Jonah, a worm (in Hebrew "tola'ath", "maggot") bites the shade-giving plant's root causing it to wither; whereas in the "Epic of Gilgamesh", Gilgamesh ties stones to his feet and plucks his plant from the floor of the sea. Once he returns to the shore, the rejuvenating plant is eaten by a serpent.
Jonah | "Epic of Gilgamesh"
R. xv. 18, and in Tanḥuma in most of the weekly sections), on account of the comparison of Israel to the vineyard of God (Isa. v. 1-7), and to the noble vine which He planted (Jer. ii. 21). Similarly the flight of the prophet Jonah from God is illustrated by the parable of the servant who runs away from his master (Mek., Bo, i. [ed. Weiss, 1b]), since the idea that a prophet is a servant of God was familiar to the people from Isa. xx. 3, 1. 10. The following Talmudic parables may be quoted to show the manner in which the writers employed this form of argument:
Mashal (allegory) | In the Talmud
The story of Jonah and the fish in the Old Testament offers an example of typology. In the Old Testament Book of Jonah, Jonah told his shipmates to throw him overboard, explaining that God's wrath would pass if Jonah were sacrificed, and that the sea would become calm. Jonah then spent three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish before it spat him up onto dry land. Typological interpretation of this story holds that it prefigures Christ's burial and resurrection. The stomach of the fish represented Christ's tomb; as Jonah exited from the fish after three days and three nights, so did Christ rise from His tomb on the third day.
Typology (theology) | Example of Jonah
In question 6, Adrianus asks where the sun shines at night. One of Ritheus' three answers is that it shines "on the belly of the whale which is called Leviathan".
Adrian and Ritheus | Levathian
There are records of men swallowed by large fish and lived. A booklet by Grace W. Kellogg, "The Bible Today," contains a list of authenticated records of living things inside fish being rescued alive. Others also speculate and propose a number of possibilities.
Jonah 1 | Great fish
In the Quran, God causes the gourd to grow to comfort Jonah after he lies on the shore in a sickly state (As-Saaffat 37|145), in the Bible the gourd plant grows up to provide shade for Jonah while he waits for Nineveh to be destroyed (). According to an Islamic tradition however, the big fish gets frightened at first, fearing it might have swallowed a holy person as it heard prayers and supplications read in a wonderful voice from her stomach, hearing which numerous sea creatures had surrounded it. But she comforts herself later since it was God's order to swallow Jonah.
Biblical and Quranic narratives | Jonah (Yunus) and the big fish
St. John (Maximovitch) said of St. Jonah:
Jonah of Hankou | Death
While the Book of Jonah itself is considered fiction, Jonah himself may have been a historical prophet; he is briefly mentioned in the Second Book of Kings: Most scholars believe that the anonymous author of the Book of Jonah may have seized upon this obscure prophet from 2 Kings and used him as the basis for the fictional character of Jonah, but some have contended that the figure of Jonah himself is entirely legendary.
Jonah | Historicity
According to Al-Subkī, the earliest known example of post-prophetic riddles concerns the Prophet's companion Ibn ʿAbbās (d. c. 687), who is asked a series of exegetical conundra such as “Tell me of a man who enters Paradise but God forbade Muḥammad to act as he acted”. (Ibn ʿAbbās answers that this is Jonah, since the Koran tells Muḥammad "be not like the Companion of the fish, when he cried while he was in distress" in sura 68:48.)
Riddles (Arabic) | In "ḥadīth"
His suffering, being swallowed by a whale, both enabled God's plan to be fulfilled and also brought Jonah closer to God: Jonah ended up repenting for his sin and the people of Nineveh turn to God. Irenaeus' eschatology was based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, especially the Book of Revelation. He believed that there would be 6000 years of suffering before the world ends in a fiery purge. This fire would purify believers ahead of a new human community existing in the New Jerusalem. The afterlife, Irenaeus proposed, focuses more on time than space; he looked forward to a time in which humans are fully developed and live the life of God.
Irenaean theodicy | Irenaeus
In the New Testament, Jonah is mentioned in and and in . In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes a reference to Jonah when he is asked for a sign by some of the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus says that the sign will be the sign of Jonah: Jonah's restoration after three days inside the great fish prefigures His own resurrection.
Jonah | In the New Testament
The work is loosely based on the biblical allegory of Jonah and the Whale, although Tavener admitted that "The 'fantasy' grew and perhaps at times nearly 'swallowed' the biblical text: so the swallowing of Jonah became almost 'literal' in the biblical sense." The libretto includes the words of an encyclopaedia entry describing certain facts about the whale, and this is contrasted with themes within the music which attempt to portray the reality of the whale itself, whose existence is greater than the sum of all the facts about it. "The Whale" has eight sections: I. Documentary, II. Melodrama and Pantomime, III.
The Whale (Tavener) | Composition
75% of the whales were dead upon the arrival of a Project Jonah medical rescue team and attempts were undertaken to refloat the remaining live whales at the morning high tide. Efforts are underway, but 240 more arrived on Saturday.
Farewell Spit | Whale stranding
Bishop Jonah had been caring for a priest who died of typhoid fever. He subsequently contracted chronic tonsillitis and then, due to complications, developed blood poisoning. As he was dying, he wrote a final epistle to his flock, reminding them of the need to love one another, confessed one final time to Archbishop Methodius of Beijing, received Holy Communion, blessed those who were in his room, and then he put on the epitrachelion and cuffs which had belonged to Elder Ambrose of Optina and began, "loudly and with prostrations", to read the canon for the departure of the soul. Finally "overcome with weakness", he laid down on his bed and said, "God's will be done.
Jonah of Hankou | Death