Jonas(822 av. J.-C. — 719 av. J.-C.)
Jonas
royaume d'Israël
7 min read
A biblical prophet from the kingdom of Israel (8th century BCE), Jonah is known for being sent by God to Nineveh to preach repentance. According to the Book of Jonah, he was swallowed by a great fish after attempting to flee his divine mission.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Prophet sent by God to announce the destruction of Nineveh (the Assyrian capital) if the city did not repent
- Attempted to flee by boat to Tarshish to escape his divine mission
- Swallowed by a great fish (or whale, depending on the translation) and saved after three days
- Conversion and repentance of the people of Nineveh following his preaching
- Biblical narrative from the Book of Jonah, a wisdom text of the Old Testament
Works & Achievements
A foundational biblical text recounting Jonah's prophetic mission to Nineveh and his stay in the belly of the great fish. This major work of biblical literature explores the themes of repentance, divine forgiveness, and the prophet's responsibility.
Jonah is sent by God to preach repentance to the inhabitants of Nineveh, the great Assyrian capital. This mission represents a divine attempt to convert a pagan city and symbolizes the universality of God's message beyond the borders of Israel.
Jonah proclaims to Nineveh that the city will be destroyed in forty days unless it repents. His message triggers a mass conversion of the Assyrian population, from the king down to the animals, demonstrating the effective power of the prophetic word.
The episode of Jonah's three days inside the belly of the fish becomes a major biblical symbol of death and resurrection, widely interpreted in the Christian tradition as a prefiguration of the resurrection of Christ.
Anecdotes
Jonah is one of the few biblical prophets whose mission takes place entirely outside Israel: he is sent to Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire, hereditary enemy of his people. This detail is remarkable because, in ancient Hebrew tradition, prophets generally addressed only the people of Israel.
The famous episode of the 'great fish' (dag gadol in Hebrew) is never called a whale in the original text: the Hebrew Bible simply speaks of a 'great fish'. It was the Greek translation (Septuagint) and then the Latin (Vulgate) that popularized the image of the whale. Jonah stays there for three days and three nights before being cast onto the shore.
Unlike most prophetic stories, Jonah's mission is a resounding success: the inhabitants of Nineveh, from the humblest to the king himself, repent immediately after hearing his preaching. This result is all the more striking because Jonah only speaks eight words in Hebrew to convince an entire city.
Jonah's reaction after the success of his mission is surprising: he becomes angry with God for sparing Nineveh. The biblical text ends with a divine rhetorical question, without an explicit answer, which is unique in prophetic literature and has sparked countless theological debates over the centuries.
The Book of Jonah is one of the shortest in the Hebrew Bible (only 48 verses) but one of the most translated and commented upon. It is read in its entirety during Yom Kippur, the great Jewish fast, because its central theme — sincere repentance and divine forgiveness — corresponds exactly to the spirit of this holiday.
Primary Sources
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.'
Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
The people of Nineveh believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Key Places
A town in the kingdom of Israel in Galilee, traditionally considered the birthplace of the prophet Jonah according to biblical tradition and rabbinical sources.
Capital of the Assyrian Empire where Jonah was sent by God to preach repentance. It is the central setting of his prophetic mission according to the Book of Jonah.
A Mediterranean seaport from which Jonah attempted to flee by ship to escape the divine mission entrusted to him.
The body of water where Jonah was thrown overboard during a storm and swallowed by a great fish, spending three days and three nights in its belly.
The political entity whose prophet Jonah was in the 8th century BCE, the place where he received his divine calling and from which he was sent on his mission.
