Jonah (redirected from Ion (prophet))

Jonah (jō`nə), prophetic book of the Bible. It tells the story of a prophet called by God to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh. According to the Second Book of Kings, Jonah lived during the reign (c.786 B.C.–c.746 B.C.) of Jeroboam II. In the story, Jonah flees because he does not want Nineveh to be spared and knows that God is likely to forgive its people if they repent. The book summons post-exilic Israel not to forget God's intention to bless the world through God's people. Allusions to the story occur in the New Testament, where it serves to prefigure the resurrection of Jesus.

Bibliography

See studies by L. C. Allen (1978), D. Stuart (1987), and J. M. Sasson (1990). See also bibliography under Old Testament.

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Jonah

(fl. c. 785 BC) One of the 12 Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, whose story is told in the book of Jonah. (His narrative is part of a larger book, The Twelve, in the Jewish canon, and he is first mentioned in the book of Kings.) God orders Jonah to prophesy against the wickedness of Nineveh, but Jonah refuses to believe that the people of this hated foreign city deserve salvation, and he sails away on a ship in the opposite direction. When a great storm threatens to destroy the ship, he confesses his fault and asks the crew to throw him overboard. A great fish swallows him, but he prays for deliverance and the fish spews him out on dry ground. He goes on to Nineveh and preaches God's message; its sinful people repent and are saved by God. Jonah is angered over the salvation of the Ninevites and hopes that the city will be destroyed, for which God rebukes him. The book, which opposes the narrow Jewish nationalism of the time, was probably written in the 5th or 4th century BC.

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Jonah, Jonas

Old Testament

a. a Hebrew prophet who, having been thrown overboard from a ship in which he was fleeing from God, was swallowed by a great fish and vomited onto dry land

b. the book in which his adventures are recounted

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Jonah

delivered from fish’s belly after three days. [O.T.: Jonah 1, 2]

See : Escape

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Jonah

trying to escape God, brought tempest to sea. [O.T.: Jonah 1:4–12]

See : Luck, Bad

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Jonah

saved from drowning in belly of great fish. [O.T.: Jonah 1:17]

See : Rescue