Jonahchapter 1
17 verses · Jonah, by tradition · 8th century BC · The Twelve
Key verse
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
It stands in Go to Nineveh: and he paid the fare to Tarshish, verses 1 to 3.
The chapter
Chapter summary
'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it'. And Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah, the wrong direction with a paid ticket. Everything after is downward: down to Joppa, down into the ship, down into sleep. Jehovah hurls a great wind; pagan sailors pray and jettison cargo while the prophet snores, until the captain wakes him: 'What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God.' The lot exposes him and his own confession convicts him: 'I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land.' Thrown overboard, the sea stills, and a prepared great fish swallows him three days and three nights.
Context
Prophecy · Jonah · Jonah overview
The world behind this chapter
Jonah 1The history
Jonah is the only prophet in the Old Testament sent to preach to a foreign capital, and the first thing he does is buy a ticket in the other direction.
Joppa was Israel's practical outlet to the sea, a poor natural harbor with a reef line, but the closest port to the hill country. Ships there were Phoenician-run traders working the Mediterranean coast, and a Hebrew from inland farm country would have found the crew, the language, and the gods on board all foreign.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Tarshish is thought by many to be Tartessos in southern Spain, at the far western end of the known world. Whether or not that identification is right, the direction is the point: Nineveh lay far to the northeast, up the Tigris; Tarshish was as far west as a ship could go.
The sailors' response to the storm is completely ordinary for the time. Each man cried to his own god, a mixed crew carried mixed religion, and then they threw the cargo overboard, which was the standard emergency measure, and then they cast lots. Casting lots to find who had offended a god was a normal ancient procedure, not superstition at the margins.
What is not ordinary is the sailors. When Jonah tells them to throw him over, they row harder instead, trying to save him, and only give up when they cannot. Pagan sailors come off better in this chapter than the prophet does.
What it meant to them
An Israelite hearing this would feel the sting immediately. The man with the true God on board is asleep below deck while foreigners pray, and the foreigners end up fearing the LORD and offering sacrifice.
Jonah's own words are the chapter's confession: he says he fears the God who made the sea and the dry land, while running across that sea to escape Him. The first hearers were being shown that knowing the right thing about God is not the same as obeying Him.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Where the chapter sits
Jonah 1 falls in The flight (chapters 1). Jonah flees to Tarshish; the storm; the lot; ‘cast me forth into the sea.’
The flight. The storm; the lot; the sea calms.
After it: The fish and the prayer, chapters 2.
The whole shape of Jonah→The structure of this chapter
Threads running through this chapter
- The sign of the prophet JonahType, v. 17
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Go to Nineveh: and he paid the fare to Tarshishvv. 1-3
the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai: identifies him with the prophet named at 2 Kings 14:25, in the reign of Jeroboam the second, which the commentators take as fixing Jonah in Israel's own history rather than in a parable with no author behind it. Nineveh is called that great city, its wickedness come up before the Lord, the same Assyrian capital that within a century would carry Israel itself away. Gill and Calvin both read the flight to Tarshish as a plain and culpable refusal of the commission rather than simple fear, the text itself naming the destination twice, from the presence of the Lord, in the space of one verse.
Jonah 1:1
"Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Apart from that which the Septuagint translates as, "the noise of their wickedness has risen up even to me", it has translated the rest similarly. Jonah is sent to the gentiles to condemn Israel, because Nineveh had to repent, but the Israelites still persisted in their sin.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Jonah 1:1
“Jonah--meaning in Hebrew, "dove." Compare Ge 8:8, 9, where the dove in vain seeks rest after flying from Noah and the ark: so Jonah. GROTIUS not so well explains it, "one sprung from Greece" or Ionia, where there were prophets called Amythaonidæ. Amittai--Hebrew for "truth," "truth-telling"; appropriate to a prophet.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jonah 1:2
“Go to Nineveh - This was the capital of the Assyrian empire, and one of the most ancient cities of the world, Gen 10:10; and one of the largest, as it was three days’ journey in circumference. Ancient writers represent it as oblong; being in length one hundred and fifty stadia, and ninety in breadth, the compass being four hundred and eighty stadia. Now as the stadium is allowed to have been equal to our furlong, eight of which make a mile, this amounts to fifty-four English miles: see on Jon 3:3 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:2
“They made a profession of true religion, they boasted that they were a holy people; circumcision was also to them a symbol and a pledge of God's covenant; yet they despised all the Prophets, so that their teaching among them was wholly useless.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Jonah 1:2
“Jonah, however, is sent to Nineveh, not solely for Nineveh's good, but also to shame Israel, by the fact of a heathen city repenting at the first preaching of a single stranger, Jonah, whereas God's people will not repent, though preached to by their many national prophets, late and early. Nineveh means "the residence of Ninus," that is, Nimrod.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jonah 1:3
"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD." The Septuagint here is similar. The prophet knows by an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the repentance of the people is the destruction of the Jews. In this situation it is not that he is trying to save Nineveh, but that moreover he does not want to see it destroyed. In another place Moses prays for his people: "if you can spare them this sin, spare them; if not, erase me from your book that you have written" [Ex.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:3
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord,.... He was not obedient to the heavenly vision; he rose up, but not to go to Nineveh, but to Tarshish, the reverse of it; to the sea, as the Targum, the Mediterranean sea, which lay west, as Nineveh was to the east.”
Jonah 1:3
“But (And) Jonah rose up to flee ... from the presence of the Lord - literally “from being before the Lord.” Jonah knew well, that man could not escape from the presence of God, whom he knew as the Self-existing One, He who alone is, the Maker of heaven, earth and sea. He did not “flee” then “from His presence,” knowing well what David said Psa 139:7, Psa 139:9-10, “whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?”
Jonah 1:3
“This is the only case of a prophet, charged with a prophetical message, concealing it. from the presence of the Lord--(Compare Ge 4:16). Jonah thought in fleeing from the land of Israel, where Jehovah was peculiarly present, that he should escape from Jehovah's prophecy-inspiring influence.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
B. A storm, a sleeping prophet, and lots that fall on him
1. (vv. 4-6)
Jonah 1:4
“But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,.... He took a wind out of his treasures, and hurled it, as the word (w) signifies, into the sea: "into that sea" (x); that part of it where the ship was Jonah was in. Winds are at the command of God, which he raises at his pleasure, and fulfil his will, and are servants of his that obey his orders: this here was sent in pursuit of Jonah, to stop him in his voyage, when he thought he had got clear off, and was safe enough.”
Jonah 1:5
“And cried, every man unto his God - They did what they could. “Not knowing the truth, they yet know of a Providence, and, amid religious error, know that there is an Object of reverence.” In ignorance they had received one who offended God. And now God, “whom they ignorantly worshiped” Act 17:23, while they cried to the gods, who, they thought, disposed of them, heard them. They escaped with the loss of their wares, but God saved their lives and revealed Himself to them. God hears ignorant prayer, when ignorance is not willful and sin.”
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:5
“Then the mariners were afraid,.... Perceiving that the storm was not an ordinary, but a supernatural one; and that the ship and all in it were in extreme danger, and no probability of being saved. This shows that the storm must be very violent, to frighten such men who were used to the sea, and to storms, and were naturally bold and intrepid. The word used signifies "salters", so called from the salt sea they used, as they are by us "mariners", from "mare", the "sea"; though R.”
Jonah 1:5
“How different was Jesus' sleep on the Sea of Galilee! Guilty Jonah's indifference to fear contrasts with the unoffending mariners' alarm. The original therefore is in the nominative absolute: "But as for Jonah, he," &c.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jonah 1:6
"So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest you, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." LXX: "and the helmsman come to him and he said to him, what are you doing sleeping? Get up, and call upon your God. If he can find a way to save us then we may not die. It is natural that each one has more confidence in someone else when they feel themselves to be in such danger.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:6
“The shipmaster - Either the captain or the pilot. Arise, call upon thy God - He supposed that Jonah had his god, as well as they had theirs; and that, as the danger was imminent, every man should use the influence he had, as they were all equally involved in it.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jonah 1:6
“So the shipmaster came to him,....”
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea: turns the fugitive's own passage into the instrument of his arrest, the ship ready to break apart while the pagan sailors each cry to his own god and pitch the cargo overboard to lighten her. Jonah alone is undisturbed, gone down into the sides of the ship and fast asleep, a stillness the commentators read as exhaustion, or as a conscience already resigned to what is coming. The shipmaster's rebuke, what meanest thou, O sleeper, puts a pagan captain in the place of calling a prophet of the Lord back to prayer, which Henry and Wesley both name as one of the book's standing ironies, Gentiles behaving better than the man sent to preach to Gentiles.
2. (vv. 7-9)
Jonah 1:7
"And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah." LXX: 'and they said to each other: come, let us draw lots to see who it is that has brought this wickedness upon us. And they drew lots, and the lot fell to Jonah.' They knew the ways of the sea and knew the causes of the storms and winds in such weather.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
4 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:7
“Come, and let us cast lots - This was a very ancient mode of endeavoring to find out the mind of Divine Providence; and in this case it proves that they supposed the storm to have arisen on account of some hidden crime of some person aboard. A philosopher being at sea in a violent storm. when the crew began to call earnestly to the gods for safety, he said, “Be silent, and cease your prayers; for should the gods know that you are here, we shall all be lost.” The lot fell upon Jonah - In this case God directed the lot.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jonah 1:7
“And they said everyone to his fellow,....”
Jonah 1:7
“Come, and let us cast lots - Jonah too had probably prayed, and his prayers too were not heard.”
Jonah 1:7
“Cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish, ver. 11-17. Commentary on Chapter I 2. That great city - It is said to have been one hundred and fifty furlongs in length, that is eighteen miles and three quarters, and eleven miles and one quarter in breadth.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Jonah 1:8
"Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray you, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence do you come? what is thy country? and of what people art you?" LXX: 'and they said to him, 'tell us how this wickedness has come upon us: what is your occupation, where do you come from, where you are going to, from which country, and which people you are from?' '.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:8
“Then they said unto him, tell us, we pray thee,....”
Jonah 1:8
“Tell us - for whose cause - A very gentle method of bringing the charge home to himself, and the several questions here asked gave the utmost latitude to make the best of his own case.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jonah 1:9
“Jonah was but the reflection of Israel's backsliding from God, and so must bear the righteous punishment. The guilt of the minister is the result of that of the people, as in Moses' case (De 4:21). This is what makes Jonah a suitable type of Messiah, who bore the imputed sin of the people.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Come, and let us cast lots: treats the lot as a recognized way of finding out a hidden offender among the crew, and it falls on Jonah exactly as his own flight had already marked him out before any question was asked. The sailors press him with a string of questions, occupation, country, people, and his answer overturns them all at once: I am an Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Gill and Keil both note the irony of the confession, a man who has just tried to run from this God now naming him as maker of the very sea presently trying to kill him.
3. (v. 10)
Jonah 1:10
“Then were the men exceedingly afraid - Before, they had feared the tempest and the loss of their lives. Now they feared God. They feared, not the creature but the Creator. They knew that what they had feared was the doing of His Almightiness. They felt how awesome a thing it was to be in His Hands. Such fear is the beginning of conversion, when people turn from dwelling on the distresses which surround them, to God who sent them. Why hast thou done this? - They are words of amazement and wonder.”
Jonah 1:10-11
Why hast thou done this?: follows the moment Jonah's own words confirm what the lot had already shown, and the men's fear turns exceeding not merely at the storm but at learning a prophet has fled from his own God. The sea keeps working and growing more tempestuous even as they put the next question to him, what shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us, so that the remedy must come from the fugitive himself rather than from anything they can do. Barnes and Jamieson Fausset and Brown both read the sailors' restraint here, still asking rather than acting on their own, as evidence the narrative means them to be seen as decent men caught inside another man's judgment.
C. Thrown into the sea, and the sea grew calm
1. (v. 11)
Jonah 1:11
“What shall we do unto thee? - They knew him to be a prophet; they ask him the mind of his God. The lots had marked out Jonah as the cause of the storm; Jonah had himself admitted it, and that the storm was for “his” cause, and came from “his” God . “Great was he who fled, greater He who required him. They dare not give him up; they cannot conceal him. They blame the fault; they confess their fear; they ask “him” the remedy, who was the author of the sin.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jonah 1:11
“What shall we do unto thee?--They ask this, as Jonah himself must best know how his God is to be appeased. "We would gladly save thee, if we can do so, and yet be saved ourselves" (Jon 1:13, 14).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2. (vv. 12-13)
Jonah 1:12
“I know that for my sake - I am not worthy to live; throw me overboard. God will not quiet the storm till I am cast out of the ship. Here was deep compunction; and honest avowal of sin; and a justification of the displeasure which God had now manifested.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:12
“It is not parting with our money that will pacify conscience; no, it is the Jonah that be thrown overboard. Jonah is herein a type of Christ, that he gives his life a ransom for many; but with this material difference, that the storm Jonah gave himself up to still was of his own raising, but that storm which Christ gave himself up to still was of our raising.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jonah 1:12
“THESE mariners manifested most commendable humanity. They were not willing, even though it were to preserve their own lives, to cast overboard an innocent man. Therefore they first used their best endeavors. And when these failed they made a solemn appeal to God, entreating Him not to lay upon them innocent blood—and then, since necessity has no law, Jonah, as a last resource was given up to the boisterous element, but not till every effort had been made to save him. We should he very careful of human life, doing nothing which even indirectly may destroy or injure it.”
Jonah 1:13
“The men rowed hard - , literally “dug.” The word, like our “plowed the main,” describes the great efforts which they made. Amid the violence of the storm, they had furled their sails. These were worse than useless. The wind was off shore, since by rowing alpine they hoped to get back to it. They put their oars well and firmly in the sea, and turned up the water, as men turn up earth by digging. But in vain! God willed it not. The sea went on its way, as before.”
Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea: is Jonah's own answer to the sailors' question, the fugitive accepting the judgment on his flight rather than begging to be spared it, and naming the tempest as upon them for his sake. The men do not act on his word at once; they row hard to bring the ship to land instead, refusing on their own initiative to throw a man to his death while another course still seems open to them. Wesley and Clarke both credit this attempt to save Jonah first as evidence the book paints Gentile conscience with more sympathy than a simple morality tale would require.
3. (vv. 14-16)
Jonah 1:14
The sailors and the passengers in the book of Jonah say, "We beseech you, O Lord, do not destroy us on account of this man and lay not upon us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you." They do not know the reasons why the prophet, a fugitive servant, deserved to be punished. And yet they justify God and acknowledge the blood of him whose deeds they do not know to be innocent. And in conclusion, they say, "You, O Lord, have done as it pleased you."
Jerome· written before 420· Against the Pelagians 2.23patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Jonah 1:14
“In the case of the Antitype, Pontius Pilate washed his hands and confessed Christ's innocence, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person." But whereas Jonah the victim was guilty and the sailors innocent, Christ our sacrificial victim was innocent and Pontius Pilate and nil of us men were guilty.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jonah 1:15
“The text does not say they seized him or that they threw him in, but that they took him, carrying him as one [deserving] respect and honor. They discharged him into the sea not in repugnance; rather, he submitted himself of his own volition into their hands. And the sea ceased [its turmoil] because it found what it sought. When one continues as a fugitive and keeps running away as fast as one can, sooner or later he is caught and stops his running, and whatever was chasing him stands still.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Jonah 1:15
“And if we thus by a thorough repentance and reformation cast our sins forth into the sea, never to recall them or return to them again, God will by pardoning mercy subdue our iniquities, and cast them into the depths of the sea too, Mic. vii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jonah 1:16
"Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows." LXX: similar. Before the anger of the Lord the sailors implored their gods under the effect of their fear; after his anger they fear the Lord, that is they revere and worship Him. They do not worship Him in the usual way, as we have seen in the beginning, but with "a great fear", according to that which is said: "from all their spirit and all their heart and all their soul" [Deut. 6:5; Mt. 22:37].
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:16
“Feared the Lord - Perhaps as Jonah's casting over-board was a type of Christ's death, so the effect it had upon the mariners might be a type of the conversion of the Heathen from idols unto God. Made vows - Probably they vowed, they would ever worship him whom Jonah preached, the Creator of heaven and earth.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Jonah 1:16
“Offered a sacrifice - The first perhaps ever offered on board a vessel since the ark floated on the waters of the great deluge; and it is most probable that these heathens, witnessing what was done, became sincere converts to the true God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
let us not perish for this man’s life: is addressed to the Lord by name, pagan sailors now praying to Jonah's own God rather than each to his own god as at verse 5. Once they cast him into the sea and it ceases from her raging, the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows, a turning recorded without a single word of Jonah's own preaching anywhere in the chapter. Calvin and Keil both point out that the sailors end this chapter doing what the reluctant prophet was sent to Nineveh to produce, fearing the Lord and worshipping him, before Jonah has preached to anyone at all.
D. A great fish prepared, and three days in its bellyv. 17
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah: turns the sea that was about to kill him into the means of his rescue, three days and three nights in its belly fixed by the text before any explanation of the mercy is given. The Lord Jesus took the detail as history rather than metaphor when he told the scribes and Pharisees that as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, repeating the sign again at Matthew 16:4 and Luke 11:30 as the one sign that generation would be given. Keil and Pusey both read the Lord's own usage as settling how the sign is to be received, its force resting on Jonah's swallowing being a real event rather than a story he invented.
Jonah 1:17
"Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." LXX: 'and the Lord ordered a great fish to swallow Jonah'. The Lord commanded death and the underworld to receive the prophet. To the eager jaws of death he seemed a prey: she had such joy in swallowing him, and such sadness in spitting him out. Thus happened what is written in Hosea: "I will be your death, O Death! I will be your bite, Hell!" [Hos. 13:14].
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 1patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Jonah 1:17
“Now the Lord had (literally “And the Lord”) prepared - Jonah (as appears from his thanksgiving) was not swallowed at once, but sank to the bottom of the sea, God preserving him in life there by miracle, as he did in the fish’s belly.”
Jonah 1:17
“An illustrious type of Christ, who was buried and rose again according to the scriptures ( 1 Cor. xv. 4 ), according to this scripture, for, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so was the Son of man three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, Matt. xii. Jonah's burial was a figure of Christ's.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jonah 1:17
“A great fish - The Hebrew word is, numbered, has appointed him for Jonah's receiver and deliverer. God has the command of all his creatures, and can make any of them serve his designs of mercy to his people.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
This page carries no textual note on Jonah 1. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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