Prophet Old Testament

Prophet Jonah

8th century BC (active)

Also known as Prophet Jonas

An Old Testament prophet sent to Nineveh to preach repentance, whose three days in the great fish are read as a sign foreshadowing Christ's burial and Resurrection.

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September 22

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Commemorated as

The Holy Prophet Jonah

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Jonah (Hebrew Yonah, 'dove') was an Old Testament prophet of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, identified in the dossier as a native of Gath-hepher and son of Amittai. He is briefly mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 as having prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II (c. 786-746 BC), and is traditionally regarded as a successor to the Prophet Elisha, placing his activity in the eighth century BC.

He is best known from the Book of Jonah, which recounts his commission to preach against the great city of Nineveh, his attempt to flee by ship toward Tarshish, his three days within a great fish, his eventual preaching, and the repentance of the Ninevites whom God then spared.

In Orthodox tradition the prophet is venerated chiefly for the typological reading of his three days in the fish, which Christ himself cites as 'the sign of the prophet Jonah,' prefiguring the three days of His burial and Resurrection.

In his own words Read Hide

Salvation is of the LORD.

Jonah, 2:9 · King James Version (PD)

Timeline 5 moments Read Hide

8th century BC Prophet in the Northern Kingdom Jonah son of Amittai, of Gath-hepher, prophesies during the reign of Jeroboam II; he is noted in 2 Kings 14:25 and held by tradition to be a successor of the Prophet Elisha.
8th century BC Flight toward Tarshish Commanded by God to preach against Nineveh for its wickedness, Jonah instead fled to Jaffa and boarded a ship for Tarshish. A great storm arose; the sailors cast lots, identified Jonah, and at his own word cast him into the sea, which then calmed.
8th century BC Three days in the great fish Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and remained within it three days and three nights, praying to God; the fish then cast him out onto the shore.
8th century BC The preaching and repentance of Nineveh Commanded again, Jonah obeyed and proclaimed, 'In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown.' The Ninevites believed, declared a fast, and put on sackcloth; the king decreed repentance, and God spared the city.
8th century BC The plant and God's compassion Displeased that the city was spared, Jonah made a shelter outside it. God caused a plant to grow for shade, then sent a worm to destroy it; when Jonah, faint, asked to die, God rebuked him for caring more for the plant than for the 120,000 people of Nineveh.

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The Book of Jonah

The Book of Jonah is largely narrative prose rather than collected oracles, and is marked throughout by literary irony and hyperbole. Its central themes are repentance and divine forgiveness, and the extension of God's compassion beyond Israel to a gentile people. The episode of the plant, in which Jonah resents God's mercy toward Nineveh, frames this theological tension directly.

While 2 Kings places the prophet himself in the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 BC), many scholars regard the book in its written form as later, citing postexilic Aramaic linguistic features; some propose a Hellenistic-period composition. Mainstream biblical scholarship generally reads the narrative as a largely literary and satirical work. In Judaism the book is read as the Haftarah for the afternoon service of Yom Kippur.

Typological significance

The prophet's enduring significance in Christian tradition lies in Christ's own reference to him. In Matthew 12:39-41 and Luke 11:29-32, Jesus speaks of 'the sign of the prophet Jonah': as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The Ninevites who repented at Jonah's preaching are likewise set forth as a witness against the unrepentant of Christ's generation.

Augustine of Hippo expressed the typology by likening Jonah's passage from the ship to the belly of the fish to Christ's passage from the cross to the sepulchre. Orthodox tradition reads the prophet's three days in the fish as a foreshadowing of Christ's burial and Resurrection.

Relics & Shrines

Several locations claim to hold the prophet's tomb. Jewish tradition favors Gath-hepher, his hometown, associated with the modern village of Mashhad. Other sites include the Al-Nabi Yunus ('Prophet Jonah') Mosque in Mosul, Iraq; Halhul in the West Bank; Sarafand (the ancient Sarepta) in Lebanon; Ashdod in Israel; and Diyarbakir in Turkey.

The shrine at Mosul was destroyed in 2014; beneath it an ancient Assyrian palace attributed to Esarhaddon was subsequently discovered.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints