Answer: The fish spit Jonah up
Chapter 2 of the book of Jonah is, almost entirely, a recitation of Jonah's prayer to God, which carries the theme of God hearing even the doomed and desperate of the world. Even those that have turned away from God can be heard by God, and if repentant, can be picked back up and saved by God. Jonah no doubt hopes for salvation, and has pinned all his hope on God. There are echoes of several Psalms in Jonah's prayer.
At the end of the chapter, it's stated (verse 10) that God commanded the fish to spit up Jonah onto dry land. Probably also an unpleasant experience, but Jonah must have seen it as a wonderful thing, after spending three days and nights (!) inside the fish.
Non-believers sometimes point at this story to explain their disbelief in the Bible. Admittedly, it could be hard to believe a man could survive inside a large fish for three days. However, there are stories of it happening found outside the Bible, so it's not as unbelievable as one might think - though it undoubtably is a memorable experience for anyone who has to go through it.
From Quiz: The Adventures of Jonah
Answer: three days and nights
This may be found in Jonah 1:17. Later, when the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign that He came from God, Jesus told them that the only sign He would give them would be the "sign of Jonah". In Matthew 12:40 Jesus draws a direct parallel between Himself and Jonah, saying "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (NKJV)
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Jonah
Answer: 3 days
Jonah 3:3 "So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey."
Three is a common number seen in the Bible.
- Jonah was in the fish for three days.
- It would have taken him three days to get to Nineveh.
- Jesus was in the tomb for three days in the New Testament.
- The Trinity is made of three: Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
From Quiz: Jonah Doesn't Want to Obey
Answer: Enormous: it took three days to walk from one end to the other
"Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent." (Jonah 3:3b, NKJV)
Along with Babylon, Nineveh was founded by Nimrod (Genesis 10:11), on the Tigris river. Archaeologists tell us that the city wall was eight miles long, with fifteen massive gates in it. One of the mounds of Nineveh still bears a name which means, translated from the Arabic, 'The prophet Jonah'!
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Jonah
Answer: About 50 years after Jonah's time, the people of Nineveh conquered Israel.
Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire, and in 721 BCE the Assyrians launched a vicious attack on the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The Assyrians conquered northern Israel and exiled the Israelites living there. It was during this Assyrian exile that the "10 Lost Tribes of Israel" disappeared.
Since 2 Kings 14:25 states that Jonah lived during the reign of King Jeroboam II (approx. 790-750 BCE), the Jonah story must have taken place a mere 50 years or so before the people of Nineveh violently conquered Jonah's people.
The fact that Jonah is sent to save one of the biggest enemies of the Israelites makes the story that much more dramatic--and troubling.
From Quiz: The Prophet Who Ran Away From God
Answer: They turned from their evil ways.
Jonah 3:8 "But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands."
I found the verse in Latin too "Et operiantur saccis homines et jumenta, et clament ad Dominum in fortitudine: et convertatur vir a via sua mala, et ab iniquitate quĉ est in manibus eorum."
The people of Nineveh had done a lot of bad things, but quickly changed when they were made aware of what they were doing.
From Quiz: Jonah Doesn't Want to Obey
Answer: 2
Jonah was stubborn in listening to God. In fact, he had to survive a storm and being fish food before he listened.
From Quiz: The Story of Jonah
Answer: they repented and were forgiven
Jonah went to Ninevah, which the Bible says was a huge city (3:3), which took three days to walk across. Ninevah had over a hundred thousand people, and in an era before high-rises, we have to imagine how big a space all those people would have needed. (The ruins of Ninevah can still be found today, on the Tigris River, across from the city of Mosul in Iraq.)
Jonah 3:4 (NIV) says that Jonah proceeded into the city with a day's journey of proclaiming God's warning, that Ninevah would be overthrown in 40 days if it did not repent. When word reached the king, he believed it, and proclaimed a fast for the entire city, and ordered everyone to dress in sackcloth, even himself, and even the animals of Ninevah (Jonah 3:6-8). The Bible implies the king put his faith solely in God's mercy, since the king seemed in verse 9 to have no expectation of God's forgiveness.
Some scholars suggest that the king of Assyria may have been at this time Adad-Nirari III, who turned to monotheism. Francis Nicole, for instance, suggests the possibility in his book "The Ancient World From c. 1400 to 586 B.C." in which he co-relates Adad-Nirari III's reign to the time Jonah is believed to have been alive and active. Merrill Unger, in his "Bible Handbook", also suggests Adad-Nirari III as the possible king when Jonah visited. Unger says Jonah may have come near the close of his reign, from 810-782 B.C.
From Quiz: The Adventures of Jonah
Answer: Forty days
"Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3:4b, NKJV) This is all that we are told of Jonah's message, and yet the whole population of the city, from the king downwards, believed God's word and repented at once.
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Jonah
Answer: Jonah knew that God would forgive Nineveh for all its terrible sins.
God's decision to forgive the people of Nineveh "displeased Jonah greatly" and makes him "grieved" (4:1). Angrily, Jonah tells God, "This is why I fled beforehand to Tarshish. For I know that You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, renouncing punishment" (4:2).
There's some irony in this line, since Jonah turns concepts ordinarily used to praise God into biting criticism. Jewish liturgy today frequently mentions God's compassion, kindness, slowness to anger, and reluctance to punish sinners--but for Jonah, these are fundamentally qualities of injustice which enable the wicked to escape unscathed.
From Quiz: The Prophet Who Ran Away From God
