Book of Jonah

The Book of Jonah is one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and an individual book in the Christian Old Testament where it has four chapters. The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh, but attempts to escape his divine mission.

Quotes

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
- 1:2 (KJV)

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
- 1:3 (KJV)

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
- 1:4 (KJV)

And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
- 1:7 (KJV)

And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
- 1:9 (KJV)

For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
- 1:11 (KJV)

So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
- 1:15 (KJV)

א וַיְמַן יְהוָה דָּג גָּדוֹל, לִבְלֹעַ אֶת-יוֹנָה; וַיְהִי יוֹנָה בִּמְעֵי הַדָּג, שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה לֵילוֹת.‎
- Καὶ προσέταξεν κύριος κήτει μεγάλῳ καταπιεῖν τὸν Ιωναν καὶ ἦν Ιωνας ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας. (Sept.)
- Et præparavit Dominus piscem grandem ut deglutiret Jonam: et erat Jonas in ventre piscis tribus diebus et tribus noctibus. (Vulg.)
- Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
- 1:17 [2:1 in the Hebrew] (KJV)
  Cf. belly of the beast

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly.
- 2:1 (KJV)

קָרָאתִי מִצָּרָה לִי אֶל-יְהוָה--וַיַּעֲנֵנִי; מִבֶּטֶן שְׁאוֹל שִׁוַּעְתִּי‎
- Ὲβόησα ἐν θλίψει μου πρὸς κύριον τὸν θεόν μου καὶ εἰσήκουσέν μου ἐκ κοιλίας ᾅδου. (Sept.)
- De ventre inferi clamavi, et exaudisti vocem meam. (Vulg.)
- Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
- 2:2 (KJV)

Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
- 3:2 (KJV)

For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
- 4:2 (KJV)

And the Lord 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 grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
- 4:6–7 (KJV)

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?
- 4:11 (KJV)

Quotes about Jonah

And here, shipmates, is true and faithful repentance; not clamorous for pardon, but grateful for punishment.
- Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851) ch. 9 (Father Mapple)