Jonah

1Chapter

Jonah’s Flight

1The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.” 3Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence.
4But the Lord threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. 5The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep.
6The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.”
7“Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah. 8Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in. What is your business, and where are you from? What is your country, and what people are you from?”
9He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence because he had told them. 11So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse.
12He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this great storm that is against you.” 13Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more.
14So they called out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” 15Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16The men were seized by great fear of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
17The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
2Chapter

Jonah’s Prayer

1Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish:
2I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice. 3When you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, the current overcame me. All your breakers and your billows swept over me. 4And I said, “I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple.” 5The water engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth’s gates shut behind me forever! Then you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God! 7As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. 8Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love, 9but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord.
10Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
3Chapter

Jonah’s Preaching

1The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.” 3Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk. 4Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!” 5Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least.
6When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. 8Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing. 9Who knows? God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.
10God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways —so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.
4Chapter

Jonah’s Anger

1Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. 2He prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. 3And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5Jonah left the city and found a place east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. 6Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. 7When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.
8As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”
9Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”
10And the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. 11So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?”
Study
Chapter 1
ESV

Jonah’s Grateful Prayer. Jonah’s prayer (2:2b–9) is framed by an introduction (1:17–2:2a) and a conclusion (2:10), both of which mention the “fish.”

ESV

Jonah’s Commissioning and Flight. This episode records Jonah’s call to prophesy and his flight from that call. Two questions drive the plot: (1) What will happen to the Ninevites? and (2) What will happen to Jonah? (See diagram.)

ESV

Jonah prophesied prosperity for Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23–28). Jonah means “dove,” a symbol for Israel as silly and senseless (Hos. 7:11); Jonah will be true to his name. Son of Amittai means “son of my faithfulness”; Jonah will remain the object of God’s faithful love.

ESV

Nineveh sat on the east bank of the Tigris River about 220 miles (354 km) north of present-day Baghdad and over 500 miles (805 km) northeast of Israel. Great (Hb. gadol) is used 14 times in Jonah. Nineveh was an important (“great”) city (see 3:3). evil. As the esv footnote indicates, the same Hebrew term (Hb. ra‘ah; used 9 times in Jonah [see chart]) can mean “evil” or “disaster.” The Ninevites were evil, and they were in line for disaster.

CSB

It may seem unusual that a prophet of God, called to be his spokesman, would ever presume to run away from the Lord. The story of Jonah shows that the prophet had a good deal to learn about the extent of the Lord’s mercy; his narrow view of that mercy may be a clue to why he thought he could escape God. Perhaps he did not expect his presence to be easily encountered outside the land of Israel. God “made the sea and the dry land” (v. 9), but would he really dwell among people who were outside his covenant with Israel?

ESV

To Tarshish is repeated three times in this verse to underscore that Jonah is not going to Nineveh. Tarshish, an unknown locale associated with distant coastlands, was somewhere in the western Mediterranean—the opposite direction from Nineveh. From the presence of the LORD is repeated at the end of this verse to underscore Jonah’s purpose in going to Tarshish. Went down (twice in this verse; see also v. 5; 2:6) is also a euphemism for death (e.g., Gen. 37:35). The suggestion is that each step away from the presence of the Lord is one step closer to “going down” to death (see notes on Jonah 1:4–5; 2:6).

ESV

Jonah and the Pagan Sailors. This episode highlights Jonah’s encounter with pagan sailors and raises the question, Who fears the Lord—Jonah or the pagans? The key repeated word is “fear”: at the beginning and end the sailors “fear” (vv. 5, 16); in the middle Jonah claims to “fear” the Lord (v. 9) while the sailors actually fear (v. 10a).

ESV

Hurled is used four times in this episode (vv. 4, 5, 12, 15). Just as God hurled the great wind, the sailors hurled the cargo. cried out. The sailors pray, evidently believing that a divine being could come to their aid. had gone down. In contrast to the sailors, Jonah goes down below deck, taking yet another step closer to death (see note on v. 3).

ESV

Arise, call out echoes God’s commission in v. 2. Ironically, the Israelite prophet has to be summoned to prayer by a pagan sailor. not perish. “Perish” is repeated in v. 14; 3:9; 4:10. Ironically, a pagan, not Jonah, is concerned that people not perish.

ESV

cast lots. Casting lots was used in the ancient world to discern the divine will (e.g., Num. 26:55; Josh. 18:6). Israelites believed that God controlled the outcome (Prov. 16:33). Evil (Hb. ra‘ah) may here suggest “disaster” (see chart).

ESV

Hebrew is an ethnic term used to identify Israelites in international contexts (e.g., Gen. 40:15; Ex. 1:19; 1 Sam. 4:6). Jonah claims to fear the LORD, but his actions contradict his confession. God of heaven refers to the universal and supreme God (see Ezra 1:2; Neh. 2:20; Dan. 2:37). made the sea. Ironically, Jonah confesses to fear the God who controls the sea, which Jonah is crossing to escape from the presence of God (Jonah 1:3). The sailors who were “afraid” (v. 5) are now exceedingly afraid.

ESV

hurl. See note on vv. 4–5. rowed hard. It would have been natural for these pagans to hurl Jonah overboard immediately, but they did not. The sea grew more and more tempestuous, for God was not ready to have Jonah delivered to dry land.

ESV

called out. Whereas each of the sailors had prayed to his god (v. 5), they now pray to the LORD. The pagan sailors, not Jonah, are concerned that people not perish (see note on v. 6). Have done as it pleased you echoes the liturgical language of Ps. 115:3 and 135:6, and is thus the sailors’ confession of faith in the absolute sovereignty of God. The sailors’ actions are in harmony with God’s: as God had hurled the wind onto the sea (see note on Jonah 1:4–5) to start the storm, the sailors now hurl Jonah to stop the storm (see v. 12).

ESV

feared the LORD exceedingly. What started as a general fear (v. 5) grew into an intense fear (v. 10) and matured into the fear—that is, the reverent worship—of the Lord (v. 16). sacrifice … vows. The exact response expected from people who fear the Lord (2 Kings 17:32–36; Ps. 22:5; 61:5; 76:11).

CSB

Was Jonah swallowed by a fish or a whale? Traditionally dag gadol has been translated “a whale” (e.g., Mt 12:40, KJV). Ancient taxonomy of the animal kingdom did not follow the modern Linnaean system, so perhaps any swimming sea creature might be considered a “fish.” The author of Jonah was not concerned with phylogenic distinctions but with the Lord’s involvement in Jonah’s life. When Jesus speaks of the “huge fish” (Mt 12:40), the text uses the same word found in the Septuagint at Jnh 1:17. If Jesus was speaking Aramaic, or possibly Hebrew, when he made his pronouncement, Matthew—or the source he was using—simply chose the Greek word already available to render Jesus’s words into Greek. Whether it was a fish or a whale in which Jonah was kept alive is less important than the fact that God provided a miraculous means to redirect the wayward prophet to his original task, preaching repentance to Nineveh. God’s plans will not be thwarted by the schemes disobedient people devise to get around them.

ESV

appointed. This is the first of four uses of “appoint” that underscore God’s sovereign control over creation (cf. 4:6–8). Fish (Hb. dag) is not limited to what is called “fish” today (generally cold-blooded vertebrate sea creatures with fins and gills) but is a general word for an aquatic beast, which cannot be identified further. However, a large whale such as a sperm whale could easily swallow a man whole. three days and three nights. Though this may be a symbolic expression for a time of dying and rising (cf. Hos. 6:2), it more likely describes the actual number of days, or parts of three days, according to accepted reckoning of days at that time (cf. 1 Sam. 30:12; 2 Kings 20:5, 8). In either case it has associations with return from death or near-death—which perhaps is why Jesus likened the time between his own death and resurrection to Jonah’s time in the fish (Matt. 12:40).