Book of Jonah

Isaiah	Yeshayahu
Jeremiah	Yirmeyahu
Ezekiel	Yekhezqel

Joshua	Yehoshua
Judges	Shofetim
Samuel	Shemuel
Kings	Melakhim

Genesis	Bereshit
Exodus	Shemot
Leviticus	Wayiqra
Numbers	Bemidbar
Deuteronomy	Devarim

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.^[1] 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.

The story has a long interpretive history and has become well known through popular children's stories. In Judaism, it is the Haftarah portion read during the afternoon of Yom Kippur to instill reflection on God's willingness to forgive those who repent,^[2] and it remains a popular story among Christians. The story is also retold in the Quran.

Mainstream Bible scholars generally regard the story of the Book of Jonah as fictional,^[3]^[4]^[5] and often at least partially satirical.^[6]^[7] Most scholars consider the Book of Jonah to have been composed long after the events it describes due to its use of words and motifs exclusive to postexilic Aramaic sources.^[8]^[9]

^ "The Bible (online)".
^ "Jonah's Path and the Message of Yom Kippur". Archived from the original on 2008-11-18. Retrieved 2009-08-18. United Jewish Communities (UJC), "Jonah's Path and the Message of Yom Kippur."
^ Kripke 1980, p. 67.
^ Jenson 2009, p. 30.
^ Chisholm 2009, p. unpaginated: "Despite the modern scholarly consensus that the book is fictional, [...]"
^ Band 2003, pp. 105–107.
^ Ben Zvi 2003, pp. 18–19.
^ Lovelace, Vanessa (2021). "Jonah". In O'Brien, Julia M. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets. Oxford University Press. pp. 449–460. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190673208.013.34. A majority of scholars regard the book's composition as considerably later than the events it describes. They point first and foremost to language. Jonah includes words and motifs that are found only in postexilic biblical and nonbiblical Aramaic sources (for further discussion, see Wolff 1986). This includes, for example, seafaring words such as "mariner" (mallah) and "ship" (sefina) (1:5), "sailor" (hovel) (1:6), the phrase "on whose account?" (1:7, 12), and the ascription "God of heaven" (1:9; cf. Gen 24:7) which appear rarely in the Hebrew Bible (Ps 107 and Ezek 27) but are common in postexilic biblical and Imperial Aramaic sources. Hans Walter Wolff suggests that infrequency of certain vocabulary and phrases in Jonah can be accounted for by their limited use in specific contexts (Wolff 1986, 76), but the late biblical verbal constructions that are unique to Jonah support the argument that the book is postexilic.
^ Wolff, Hans Walter. 1986. Obadiah and Jonah: A Commentary. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.

[1] "The Bible (online)".

[2] "Jonah's Path and the Message of Yom Kippur". Archived from the original on 2008-11-18. Retrieved 2009-08-18. United Jewish Communities (UJC), "Jonah's Path and the Message of Yom Kippur."

[FOOTNOTEKripke198067-3] Kripke 1980, p. 67.

[FOOTNOTEJenson200930-4] Jenson 2009, p. 30.

[FOOTNOTEChisholm2009unpaginated-5] Chisholm 2009, p. unpaginated: "Despite the modern scholarly consensus that the book is fictional, [...]"

[FOOTNOTEBand2003105–107-6] Band 2003, pp. 105–107.

[FOOTNOTEBen_Zvi200318–19-7] Ben Zvi 2003, pp. 18–19.

[8] Lovelace, Vanessa (2021). "Jonah". In O'Brien, Julia M. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets. Oxford University Press. pp. 449–460. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190673208.013.34. A majority of scholars regard the book's composition as considerably later than the events it describes. They point first and foremost to language. Jonah includes words and motifs that are found only in postexilic biblical and nonbiblical Aramaic sources (for further discussion, see Wolff 1986). This includes, for example, seafaring words such as "mariner" (mallah) and "ship" (sefina) (1:5), "sailor" (hovel) (1:6), the phrase "on whose account?" (1:7, 12), and the ascription "God of heaven" (1:9; cf. Gen 24:7) which appear rarely in the Hebrew Bible (Ps 107 and Ezek 27) but are common in postexilic biblical and Imperial Aramaic sources. Hans Walter Wolff suggests that infrequency of certain vocabulary and phrases in Jonah can be accounted for by their limited use in specific contexts (Wolff 1986, 76), but the late biblical verbal constructions that are unique to Jonah support the argument that the book is postexilic.

[9] Wolff, Hans Walter. 1986. Obadiah and Jonah: A Commentary. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.

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