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Summary
- In Matthew 16:4 Jesus refuses the Pharisees and Sadducees any sign “but the sign of the prophet Jonas.”
- Matthew 12:40 explains the sign: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish, the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
- The Gospels use “the third day” and “after three days” for the same period, which is how most Christians fit the saying to a Friday death and a Sunday resurrection.
- Luke 11:30 adds that Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, who repented at his preaching; Jesus says “a greater than Jonas is here.”
- Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome and Cyril of Alexandria read the sign as Christ’s death and resurrection, and Augustine saw Nineveh as a figure of the Gentile church.
- Catholics read Jonah 3 with Luke 11:29–32 in the first week of Lent, and the Orthodox read the whole book of Jonah on Holy Saturday.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Esther 4:16; 5:1; Judges 6:17; 2 Kings 14:23–25; Isaiah 7:10–13; Jonah 1:2–3, 17; 2:2, 10; 3:4–5, 10; 4:1–2, 11; Matthew 12:22–24, 38–41; 16:1–4, 17, 21; 17:23; 20:19; 22:23; 27:63–64; Mark 8:12, 31; Luke 11:29–32; 24:21; John 1:42; 21:15). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- SBL Greek New Testament, Matthew 12:40, Matthew 16:17 and John 1:42, with textual notes. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+12%3A40&version=SBLGNT and https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1%3A42%3BMatthew+16%3A17&version=SBLGNT
- Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon, “κῆτος.” Perseus Digital Library. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=kh=tos
- Mallowan, Max. “Nineveh.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, updated 28 August 2026. https://www.britannica.com/place/Nineveh-ancient-city-Iraq
- John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 43. Translated by George Prevost, revised by M. B. Riddle. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 10. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200143.htm
- Augustine of Hippo. The City of God, Book 18, chapters 30 and 44. Translated by Marcus Dods. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120118.htm
- Jerome. Letter 53. Translated by W. H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W. G. Martley. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 6. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001053.htm
- Hegedus, Timothy Michael. “Jerome’s Commentary on Jonah: Translation with Introduction and Critical Notes.” MA thesis, Wilfrid Laurier University, 1991. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/115/
- Cyril of Alexandria. Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke, Sermon 82. Translated from the Syriac by R. Payne Smith, 1859. https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_08_sermons_81_88.htm
- Calvin, John. Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 2, on Matthew 12:38–42 and Luke 11:16, 29–32. Translated by William Pringle. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom32.ii.xvii.html
- Odom, Robert L. “Did Christ Stay in the Grave Exactly 72 Hours?” Ministry, April 1961. Cites Herbert W. Armstrong, “The Resurrection Was Not on Sunday!”, The Plain Truth, April 1954. https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1961/04/did-christ-stay-in-the-grave-exactly-72-hours
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraph 994. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2H.HTM
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Daily readings for the Wednesday of the First Week of Lent (25 February 2026): Jonah 3:1–10; Luke 11:29–32. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022526.cfm
- Orthodox Church in America. Scripture readings for Great and Holy Saturday: Jonah 1:1–4:11 (Vespers, fourth reading). https://www.oca.org/readings/daily/2042/04/12/7 and https://www.oca.org/readings/daily/2028/04/15
- Jung, C. G. Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. Translated by Beatrice M. Hinkle. New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. Project Gutenberg eBook no. 65903. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65903
- Katz, Maya Balakirsky. “Jonah’s Journey across the Nations.” In Freud, Jung, and Jonah: Religion and the Birth of the Psychoanalytic Periodical, 135–192. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009103787.004
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