Jonah

c. 780 BC – c. 740 BC · Assyria bible · Prophet

Bible

Jonah (Jona) was an Israelite prophet from Gath-hepher in the Northern Kingdom. God commanded him to preach repentance to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria — Israel's greatest enemy. Jonah fled by ship but was swallowed by a great fish for three days before obeying. His reluctant mission to Nineveh resulted in the city's repentance — the largest recorded mass conversion in the Old Testament. Jesus later cited Jonah's three days in the fish as a sign prefiguring His own death and resurrection.

Forty Days and Nineveh Will Be Overthrown

760 BC — Nineveh

Fulfilled

Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened. (Jonah 3:4-10)

The Sign of Jonah — Prefiguration of Christ's Resurrection

760 BC — Nineveh

Fulfilled

Jesus himself declared Jonah's experience as a prophetic sign: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40). Jonah's three days in the fish became the defining Old Testament prefiguration of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

sign of Jonah resurrection Jesus Christ three days prefiguration fishBible

Jonah

Prophecies & Visions (2)