Editing Jonah (section)

{{Short description|Biblical and Quranic prophet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{About|the biblical figure|other uses}}
{{Good article}}
{{Infobox saint
|name=Jonah<br />{{nobold|{{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|יוֹנָה}}|rtl=yes}}}}
|image=Sistine jonah.jpg
|imagesize=270
|caption=''[[Prophet Jonah (Michelangelo)|The Prophet Jonah]]'' ({{circa|1508–1512}})<br />by [[Michelangelo]] (the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]])
|titles=Prophet
|birth_date=9th century BCE
|birth_place=[[Gath-hepher]], [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]]|death_date=8th century BCE{{sfn|Levine|2000|page=71}}
|death_place=
|feast_day= 21 September ([[Catholic Church|Catholicism]])<ref name="MR">{{cite book |title=The Roman Martyrology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xZ5lAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Jonas,+prophet+Sept.+21%22 |year=1944 |publisher=Newman Bookshop |location=Westminster, Maryland |page= 327}}</ref>
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|major_shrine= [[Al-Nabi Yunus Mosque|Tomb of Jonah]] (destroyed), [[Mosul]], [[Iraq]]
{{infobox person|embed=yes
|father= [[Amittai]]}}
|attributes=
|patronage=
|issues=
|suppressed_date=
|venerated_in=[[Judaism]]<br />[[Christianity]]<br />[[Islam]]<br />[[Baháʼí Faith]]<br />[[Rastafari]]
}}

'''Jonah the son of Amittai''' or '''Jonas''' ({{Langx|he|יוֹנָה}} {{Transliteration|he|Yōnā}}, {{Literal translation|dove}}){{efn|{{langx|el|Ἰωνᾶς}} ''Iōnâs''; {{langx|ar|يونس}} ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Yūnus, Yūnis}}'' or {{lang|ar|يونان}} ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Yūnān }}''; [[Latin]]: ''Ionas''}} is a [[Jews|Jewish]] [[prophet]] in the [[Hebrew Bible]] hailing from [[Gath-hepher]] in the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Northern Kingdom of Israel]] around the [[8th century BCE]]. He is the central figure of the [[Book of Jonah]], one of the [[minor prophets]], which details his reluctance in delivering the judgment of God to the city of [[Nineveh]] (near present-day [[Mosul]]) in the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. After he is swallowed by a large sea creature ({{langx|he|דג גדול|dāḡ gāḏol|large fish}}) and then released, he returns to the divine mission.

In [[Judaism]], the story of Jonah represents the teaching of [[repentance in Judaism]], the ability to repent to [[God in Judaism|God]] for forgiveness. In the [[New Testament]] of [[Christianity]], [[Jesus]] calls himself "greater than Jonah" and promises the [[Pharisees]] "the sign of Jonah" when referring to [[Resurrection of Jesus|his resurrection]]. Early Christian interpreters viewed Jonah as a [[Typology (theology)|''type'']] of Jesus. [[Jonah in Islam]] is regarded as a [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|prophet]] and the narrative of Jonah appears in a [[surah]] of the [[Quran]] named after him, [[Yunus (surah)|Yūnus]].

Many modern [[Biblical criticism|Bible scholars]] suggest the Book of Jonah is fictional,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tawfeeq |first=Dana Ford,Mohammed |date=2014-07-24 |title=Extremists destroy Jonah's tomb, officials say |url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/24/world/iraq-violence/index.html |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=CNN |language=en |quote="Biblical scholars are divided on whether the tomb in Mosul actually belonged to Jonah. In the Jewish tradition, he returns to his hometown of Gath-Hepher after his mission to Nineveh. And some modern scholars say the Jonah story is more myth than history."}}</ref>{{sfn|Kripke|1980|page=67}}{{sfn|Jenson|2009|page=30}}{{sfn|Chisholm|2009|p=unpaginated|ps=: "Despite the modern scholarly consensus that the book is fictional, [...]"}} and  at least partially satirical.{{sfn|Band|2003|pages=105–107}}{{sfn|Ben Zvi|2003|pages=18–19}} Most scholars consider the Book of Jonah to have been composed long after the events it describes due to its use of words and motifs exclusive to postexilic [[Aramaic]] sources.<ref> {{cite book |last=Lovelace |first=Vanessa |chapter=Jonah |editor-last=O'Brien |editor-first=Julia M. |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |pages=449–460 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190673208.013.34 |isbn=978-0-19-067320-8 |quote=A majority of scholars regard the book’s composition as considerably later than the events it describes. They point first and foremost to language. Jonah includes words and motifs that are found only in postexilic biblical and nonbiblical Aramaic sources (for further discussion, see Wolff 1986). This includes, for example, seafaring words such as “mariner” (mallah) and “ship” (sefina) (1:5), “sailor” (hovel) (1:6), the phrase “on whose account?” (1:7, 12), and the ascription “God of heaven” (1:9; cf. Gen 24:7) which appear rarely in the Hebrew Bible (Ps 107 and Ezek 27) but are common in postexilic biblical and Imperial Aramaic sources. Hans Walter Wolff suggests that infrequency of certain vocabulary and phrases in Jonah can be accounted for by their limited use in specific contexts (Wolff 1986, 76), but the late biblical verbal constructions that are unique to Jonah support the argument that the book is postexilic.}}</ref><ref> Wolff, Hans Walter. 1986. Obadiah and Jonah: A Commentary. Translated by Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.</ref> The character of Jonah son of [[Amittai]] may have been based on the historical prophet of the same name who prophesied during the reign of King [[Amaziah of Judah]], as mentioned in [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]].<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse|2 Kings|14:25|HE}}</ref>

Although the creature that swallowed Jonah is often depicted in art and culture as a whale, the Hebrew text uses the phrase "large fish". In the 17th century and early 18th century, the species of the fish that swallowed Jonah was the subject of speculation by [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalists]], who interpreted the story as an account of a historical incident. Some modern scholars of [[folklore]], on the other hand, note similarities between Jonah and other legendary religious figures, like the Indian yogi [[Matsyendranatha]] "Lord of the Fishes", the [[Sumer]]ian king [[Gilgamesh]], and the Greek hero [[Jason]].