Jonah 1 · Verse 17

Jonah 1:17

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:17, King James Version

Jonah 1:17 in other translations

BSBNow the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.
WEBThe LORD prepared a huge fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
ASVAnd Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
YLTAnd Jehovah appointeth a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah is in the bowels of the fish three days and three nights.
DARBYAnd Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
BBEAnd the Lord made ready a great fish to take Jonah into its mouth; and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.
WebsterNow the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

What does Jonah 1:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
17. prepared a great fish--not created specially for this purpose, but appointed in His providence, to which all creatures are subservient. The fish, through a mistranslation of Mt 12:40, was formerly supposed to be a whale; there, as here, the original means "a great fish." The whale's neck is too narrow to receive a man. Bochart thinks, the dog-fish, the stomach of which is so large that the body of a man in armor was once found in it [Hierozoicon, 2.5.12]. Others, the shark [Jebb]. The cavity in the whale's throat, large enough, according to Captain Scoresby, to hold a ship's jolly boat full of men. A miracle in any view is needed, and we have no data to speculate further. A "sign" or miracle it is expressly called by our Lord in Mt 12:39. Respiration in such a position could only be by miracle. The miraculous interposition was not without a sufficient reason; it was calculated to affect not only Jonah, but also Nineveh and Israel. The life of a prophet was often marked by experiences which made him, through sympathy, best suited for discharging the prophetical function to his hearers and his people. The infinite resources of God in mercy as well as judgment are prefigured in the devourer being transformed into Jonah's preserver. Jonah's condition under punishment, shut out from the outer world, was rendered as much as possible the emblem of death, a present type to Nineveh and Israel, of the death in sin, as his deliverance was of the spiritual resurrection on repentance; as also, a future type of Jesus' literal death for sin, and resurrection by the Spirit of God. three days and three nights--probably, like the Antitype, Christ, Jonah was cast forth on the land on the third day (Mt 12:40); the Hebrew counting the first and third parts of days as whole twenty-four hour days.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish - דג גדול dag gadol. This could not have been a whale, for the throat of that animal can scarcely admit a man's leg; but it might have been a shark, which abounds in the Mediterranean, and whose mouth and stomach are exceedingly capacious. In several cases they have been known to swallow a man when thrown overboard. See the note on Mat 12:40 (note), where the whole subject of this verse is considered at large. That days and nights do not, among the Hebrews, signify complete days and nights of twenty-four hours, see Est 4:16, compared with Est 5:1; Jdg 14:17, Jdg 14:18. Our Lord lay in the grave one natural day, and part of two others; and it is most likely that this was the precise time that Jonah was in the fish's belly.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jonah 1:13-17

The mariners rowed against wind and tide, the wind of God's displeasure, the tide of his counsel; but it is in vain to think of saving ourselves any other way than by destroying our sins. Even natural conscience cannot but dread blood-guiltiness. And when we are led by Providence God does what he pleases, and we ought to be satisfied, though it may not please us. Throwing Jonah into the sea put an end to the storm…

Read the full comment on Jonah 1:13-17 →

Jonah 1:17 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיְמַ֤ןvay.Manand he appointedH4487
יְהוָה֙Yah.wehYahwehH3068
דָּ֣גdaga fishH1709
גָּד֔וֹלga.DolgreatH1419
לִבְלֹ֖עַliv.Lo.a'to swallowH1104
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
יוֹנָ֑הyo.NahJonahH3124
וַיְהִ֤יvay.Hiand he wasH1961
יוֹנָה֙yo.NahJonahH3124
בִּמְעֵ֣יbim.'Eiin [the] inward parts ofH4578
הַדָּ֔גha.Dagthe fishH1709
שְׁלֹשָׁ֥הshe.lo.ShahthreeH7969
יָמִ֖יםya.MimdaysH3117
וּשְׁלֹשָׁ֥הu.she.lo.Shahand threeH7969
לֵילֽוֹת\׃lei.LotnightsH3915

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jonah 1:17

  • Matthew 12:40

    For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

  • Luke 11:30

    For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

  • Matthew 16:4

    A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

  • Psalms 104:25-26

    So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

  • Habakkuk 3:2

    O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

  • Jonah 4:6

    And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

  • Genesis 1:21

    And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the Lord.
4:6; Ge 1:21; Ps 104:25,26; Hab 3:2
in.
Mt 12:40; 16:4; Lu 11:30
belly. Heb. bowels.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Jonah 1:16

    Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.

  • Jonah 1:17

    Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Read all of Jonah 1

Jonah 1:17 in other languages