Jonah was a prophet who delivered God’s message. He was the son of Amittai and came from Gath Hepher. Second Kings says that Jeroboam son of Joash restored Israel’s territory from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, fulfilling a message God had spoken through Jonah. It does not establish whether this came before or after the journey to Nineveh in the book of Jonah.
God told Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness. Instead, Jonah went down to Joppa to flee from God’s presence toward Tarshish. He found a ship going there, paid the fare, and boarded.
God sent a great wind over the sea, and a storm threatened to break the ship apart. The sailors called to their gods and threw cargo into the sea, while Jonah slept deeply below deck. The captain woke him and told him to call on God. The crew cast lots to find who was responsible for the disaster, and the lot fell to Jonah. He said he was a Hebrew who feared the God who made the sea and dry land. He also told them that he was fleeing from God’s presence.
Jonah said the storm had come because of him and told the sailors to throw him into the sea so it would become calm. They first rowed hard to return to land, but the sea grew rougher and they could not. They asked God not to let them die for Jonah’s life or hold them responsible for innocent blood. When they threw Jonah overboard, the storm stopped. The sailors greatly feared God, offered a sacrifice, and made vows.
God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. He remained inside it for three days and three nights and prayed to God. He described the deep water, waves, and seaweed surrounding him and acknowledged that God had brought his life up from the pit. He promised to offer a sacrifice with thanksgiving and fulfill his vows, the promises he had made to God. At God’s command, the fish vomited him onto dry land.
God’s word came to Jonah a second time. This time Jonah went to Nineveh as instructed. The book describes it as a great city, three days’ journey across. Jonah entered a day’s journey into it and announced that Nineveh would be overthrown in forty days.
The people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and wore sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The king removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. He and his nobles decreed that people and animals must not eat or drink. They were to wear sackcloth, call urgently to God, and turn from evil and violence. The decree also expressed hope that God might turn from his anger so they would not perish. Seeing that the people turned from their evil ways, God withheld the disaster he had announced.
Jonah was deeply displeased and angry. He told God that he had known God was gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, willing to relent from bringing disaster. This was why he had fled toward Tarshish while still in his own country. He asked God to take his life, saying death was better than life. God asked whether it was right for him to be angry.
Jonah went east of the city, built a shelter, and sat in its shade to watch what would happen to Nineveh. God prepared a vine to shade his head and relieve his discomfort. Jonah was exceedingly glad because of it.
At dawn the next day, a worm prepared by God chewed on the vine, and it withered. When the sun rose, a hot east wind blew and the sun beat on Jonah’s head. He became faint and again said death was better than life. When God asked whether his anger over the vine was right, Jonah answered that it was right even to death.
God said Jonah had been concerned for a vine he had neither worked for nor made grow, one that appeared in a night and perished in a night. Nineveh held more than one hundred twenty thousand people who could not distinguish their right hand from their left, as well as many animals. God asked whether he should not be concerned for that great city.
The book of Jonah ends with God’s question. It does not record Jonah’s answer.