The Divided Kingdom
- When
- c. 780 BC, reign of Jeroboam II
- Written by
- Jonah, by tradition
- Chapters
- 4
The big idea
A prophet runs from God’s call, is swallowed and spared, preaches to Nineveh, and is angry when God shows the enemy mercy.
Themes
- Repentance
- Mercy for all nations
- Running from God
- The sign of Jonah
Memory verse
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
Key passages
- 1The flight and the storm
- 2Prayer from the fish
- 3Nineveh repents
- 4The plant and God’s question
Links to other Scripture
- Matthew 12:39–41The sign of Jonah
- Luke 11:29–32A greater than Jonah
- 1 Timothy 2:4God will have all to be saved
- 2 Peter 3:9Not willing that any perish
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- Jonah ran from a command he understood perfectly. What are you running from?
- Jonah prayed from inside the fish, and God heard. Where are you praying from the bottom of something?
- Jonah was angry that God showed mercy to his enemies. Who are you reluctant to see forgiven?
- In one sentence, this book is about…