The book of Jonah

At a glance

Chapters

4

Author

Anonymous

Written

Likely post-exilic

Written for

People who would rather their enemies were not forgiven

Themes

mercy, running, enemies, anger

What it is about

Everybody knows the fish. Almost nobody knows chapter 4, which is what the book is actually about. Jonah is sent to Nineveh, the capital of an empire that had brutalised his people. He runs. He is brought back. He preaches a single sentence, the city repents, and God relents.

Then Jonah sits outside the city and tells God that this is exactly why he ran — because he knew God was merciful, and he did not want these people forgiven. He asks to die.

The book ends with God asking whether he should not have compassion on a city of a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left. Jonah does not reply. Neither does the narrator.

Where to start

Chapter 4. If you only ever read one chapter of Jonah, this is the one that changes what the other three are about.

The chapters worth knowing

• Jonah 1 — The flight and the storm, and sailors who behave better than the prophet.
• Jonah 3 — A five-word sermon and the largest recorded repentance in Scripture.
• Jonah 4 — The chapter the book is actually about, and the question it ends on.

What people get wrong about it

That it is a story about disobedience and a fish. The fish takes three verses; the argument is about a man who cannot bear his enemies being spared, and the book leaves his objection standing.

Questions