Jonah (KJV)
4 chapters · 48 verses. Choose a chapter to read it in the King James Version.
About the Book of Jonah
Jonah recounts a reluctant prophet sent to Nineveh and his struggle with God's mercy toward enemies. It challenges narrow attitudes by revealing a God whose compassion extends even to a hostile foreign city.
- Genre
- Prophetic narrative
- Author
- Anonymous; narrates the prophet Jonah
- First audience
- Israel
How to read it: Read this narrative for its pointed message about God's mercy and the reader's own heart; note the irony in the prophet's resistance.
It opens: “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,” (Jonah 1:1)
Chapters
Key verses in Jonah
The verses of Jonah that the rest of Scripture cross-references most often.
And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.