Jonah or Jonas is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible hailing from Gath-hepher in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, which details his reluctance in delivering the judgment of Yahweh to the city of Nineveh in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. After he is swallowed by a large sea creature and then released, he returns to the divine mission.
The Prophet Jonah (c. 1508–1512) by Michelangelo (the Sistine Chapel ceiling)
Jonah and the Whale (1621) by Pieter Lastman
Jonah Preaching to the Ninevites (1866) by Gustave Doré, in La Grande Bible de Tours
Illustration of Jonah being swallowed by the fish from the Kennicott Bible, folio 305r (1476), in the Bodleian Library, Oxford
The Book of Jonah is one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and an individual book in the Christian Old Testament. The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh, but attempts to escape his divine mission.
Illustrated Jonah from the 15th-century Kennicott Bible
Jonah Preaching to the Ninevites (1866) by Gustave Doré
Jonah in four scenes: bottom left Jonah thrown into the sea by the crew of the boat which was to take him to Tarsis, bottom right, Jonah praying in the mouth of the whale, top left, Jonah preaching to the people of Nineveh outside the city gates, and top right, Jonah praying to God on a rock. Paris Psalter, f. 431v.
Christ rises from the tomb, alongside Jonah spit onto the beach, a typological allegory. From a 15th century Biblia pauperum.
