English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- Jonah is the Hebrew Yonah, “dove,” the same word Genesis uses for Noah’s dove; his father Amittai’s name comes from emet, “truth.”
- 2 Kings 14:25 names Jonah son of Amittai, from Gath-hepher, as a prophet under King Jeroboam II of Israel in the eighth century BC.
- In the Book of Jonah he flees from God’s call to Nineveh, is swallowed by a great fish for three days and nights, and then preaches; the city repents and God spares it.
- Jesus spoke of “the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39–41; Luke 11:29–32), and Peter is called “Simon Bar-Jonah,” son of Jonah (Matthew 16:17).
- Jews read the Book of Jonah on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, and the Qur’an honors him as the prophet Yunus.
- The Roman Martyrology commemorates Jonah on 21 September and the Orthodox Church on 22 September; he was the most popular biblical subject in early Christian funerary art.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Behind the Name, “Jonah” and “Jonas,” with United States popularity figures from Social Security Administration data. https://www.behindthename.com/name/jonah
- Strong’s Hebrew 3123 (yonah, dove), 3124 (Jonah) and 573 (Amittai), with Brown-Driver-Briggs, Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3123.htm
- Strong’s Greek 920, Bariōnas, Bible Hub, and the Greek texts of John 1:42 compared on Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/texts/john/1-42.htm
- “Jonah,” Wikipedia, on feast days, the Qur’an, Yom Kippur, the Nabi Yunus shrine in Mosul and the translation of “great fish” and “whale.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah
- “Book of Jonah,” Wikipedia, on scholarly views of its date and genre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Jonah
- Amy Erickson, “A Minor Biblical Prophet Lives Again—Among the Dead,” The Ancient Near East Today, 7 March 2024. https://anetoday.org/erickson-jonah-prophet/
- Orthodox Church in America, “Prophet Jonah,” 22 September. https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/09/22
- “The prophet Jonah has his own feast day in the Church,” Aleteia, 21 September 2024, on the Roman Martyrology. https://aleteia.org/2024/09/21/the-prophet-jonah-has-his-own-feast-day-in-the-church/
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version: 2 Kings 14:25; Jonah 1:2–3, 17; 3:4; 4:2, 11; Matthew 12:39–41; Luke 11:30; Matthew 16:17; John 1:42. King James Version: Matthew 12:40. References: Genesis 8:8–12; Joshua 19:13; Jonah 1:12–16; 2:10; 3:5–10; Matthew 16:4; John 21:15. Spellings from the Almeida Revista e Corrigida and Louis Segond Bibles.
