Jonah 1

Jonah 1 is the first of the four chapters of the Book of Jonah. Jonah the son of Amittai flees from God's call and is thrown into the sea. Because it is the opening chapter of the book, no chapter precedes it; Jonah's prayer from the belly of the fish follows in Jonah 2.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 The LORD commands Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and cry against it. Seeking to flee from the presence of the LORD, Jonah goes down to Joppa and boards a ship bound for Tarshish.
• Verses 4–6 The LORD sends a great wind, and the ship is about to break apart. Each of the sailors cries out to his own god, and they throw the cargo into the sea. Jonah, fast asleep in the lower part of the ship, is awakened by the shipmaster.
• Verses 7–10 The lot falls on Jonah. He identifies himself as a Hebrew who fears the LORD, the maker of the sea and the dry land, and tells them that he is fleeing from the LORD.
• Verses 11–16 Jonah tells them to throw him into the sea. The sailors try to row back to land but fail. After crying out to the LORD, they throw Jonah overboard, and the sea at once grows calm. The men fear the LORD exceedingly, offer a sacrifice, and make vows.
• Verse 17 A great fish that the LORD had prepared swallows Jonah. Jonah remains in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Key Verses

• Jonah 1:3, "Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD": the starting point of the book's story, a prophet running from his calling.
• Jonah 1:9, "I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land": this verse exposes the gap between Jonah's confession of faith and his actual conduct.
• Jonah 1:17, "Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights": in the New Testament, Jesus cites this verse, likening it to his own death and resurrection.

Characters and Places

• Jonah: The son of Amittai. A prophet of the same name also appears in 2 Kings 14.
• The shipmaster and the sailors: Unnamed Gentile seamen. At first each calls on his own god, but in the end they offer sacrifice to the LORD.
• Nineveh: A great city of Assyria.
• Joppa: A port on the Mediterranean coast.
• Tarshish: A distant port to the west. Its exact location is disputed, and several identifications have been proposed.

Points for Reflection

• Chapter 1 does not explain why Jonah fled. Jonah himself gives the reason in Jonah 4:2.
• The text speaks only of a "great fish." The "whale" commonly mentioned in children's stories and similar retellings comes from outside the biblical text.
• The Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version divide chapter 1 into 17 verses. In the Hebrew Masoretic Text, verse 17 is numbered 2:1.
• The evangelical tradition generally reads this story as a historical event, citing Jesus' reference to it as support. Some scholars, by contrast, regard it as a didactic story teaching that God's mercy extends even to the Gentiles.
• In Matthew 12, Jesus speaks of "the sign of the prophet Jonas," comparing Jonah's three days in the belly of the fish with the three days the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. Some readers also compare Jonah asleep in the storm with Jesus asleep in the storm.

In the Korean Church

This chapter is frequently covered in Sunday school curricula and children's Bible storybooks. In preaching, it is often cited in discussions of disobedience to one's calling and of God's providence.