The Book of Jonah (Hebrew: Sefer Yonah) is one of the Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. It tells the story of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah ben Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission. Set in the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 BC), it was probably written in the post-exilic period, sometime between the late fifth to early fourth century BC. The story has an interesting interpretive history (see below) and has become well-known through popular children's stories. In Judaism it is the Haftarah for the afternoon of Yom Kippur due to its story of God's willingness to forgive those who repent.
Read more about Book Of Jonah: Narrative, Jonah and The Big Fish, Jonah's Prayer, Jonah and The Gourd Vine, Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words book and/or jonah:
“I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which must yet have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Why need Christians be still intolerant and superstitious? The simple-minded sailors were unwilling to cast overboard Jonah at his own request.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)