Jonah under his booth, The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, 1873 (adapted). Wikimedia
Silencing Jonah the Zealot on Yom Kippur
The sailors, Ninevites, and even a fish and a plant do what God asks in the book of Jonah; the prophet alone resists. A zealot who wants Nineveh punished, Jonah flees his mission because he fears God will forgive them. When the Ninevites repent and God spares them, Jonah is furious. Read on Yom Kippur, his story challenges those whose zeal demands justice for others while pleading for divine mercy for themselves.
Published September 18, 2026
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Last Updated October 28, 2026
My heartfelt thanks to Benjamin Wallach for his most helpful comments on an earlier version of this piece.
Translations of rabbinic texts, unless otherwise noted, are the author’s and/or the editors’.
The verse reads:
מלכים ב יד:כה הוּא הֵשִׁיב אֶת גְּבוּל יִשְׂרָאֵל מִלְּבוֹא חֲמָת עַד יָם הָעֲרָבָה כִּדְבַר יְ־הֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּיַד עַבְדּוֹ יוֹנָה בֶן אֲמִתַּי הַנָּבִיא אֲשֶׁר מִגַּת הַחֵפֶר.
2 Kgs 14:25 It was he who restored the territory of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the promise that YHWH, the God of Israel, had made through God’s servant, the prophet Jonah son of Amittai from Gath-hepher.
See discussion in Mordechai Cogan, “The Book of Jonah: A Parody of the Northern Prophet Jonah Son of Amittai,” TheTorah (2024).
See Steven Bob, “Why Does ‘Our’ God Send Jonah to Save the Assyrians in Nineveh?” TheTorah (2022).
Compare this with the story of Sodom whose “cry come unto Me” (Gen. 18:21).
Ibn Ezra (1:2) cites “the Jewish Sages of Greece [חכמי ישראל בארץ יוון]” who identified Tarshish with… Troy. Calvin (John Calvin Bible Commentaries on the Books of Jonah, Michah and Nahum. North Charleston, SC: Createspace, 2017, 16) suggests that Tarshish is Cilicia.
Hebrew is taken from RJPS with adjustments.
R. Gedalia Nadel, a prominent disciple of the Hazon Ish and a philosophy lover, pointed out that strictly speaking the Bible never mentions that Jonah woke up from his sleep so that the rest of the book might have transpired in a dream. [This is a saying I heard orally from a disciple of Gedalia Nadel].
For a discussion of how Jonah is being negatively compared with Israelite prophets, see Jonathan Rabinowitz, “Jonah the Anti-Prophet,” TheTorah (2026).
The verb usually means “to count”; see, e.g., Gen 13:16, 23:10, 2 Sam 24:1; 1 Kgs 3:8, 8:5, 20:25, etc.
A species of perennial flowering plant, specifically the plant that produces castor beans/oil.
Cf. Deut. 29:22 כְּמַהְפֵּכַת סְדֹם וַעֲמֹרָה “like the overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah.” For comparisons with the story of Sodom, see the commentaries of Radak, Joseph Kaspi, and Metzudat David on Jonah 3:4–5. Kaspi also draws a comparison to the events of the Flood. For modern discussion, see Jonathan Magonet, Form and Meaning: Studies in Literary Techniques in the Book of Jonah, 2nd ed. (Almond, 1983), 65; Abraham Z. Ephros, “Nineveh and Sodom Juxtaposed: Contrasts and Parallels,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 30 (2002): 243–248 [p. 244]; Marian Kelsey, “Ruth and Jonah: Inner-Biblical Explorations of the Patriarchs and Prophets,” in The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Narrative, ed. Keith Bodner (Cambridge University Press, 2025), 136–151 [145–147].
Attempting to explain the sudden change in the behavior of the Ninevites, Rabbeinu Hananel bar Shmuel (1174–1250, Fustat) notes that ללא ספק ארע דבר מה שהצריך להם את האמונה “undoubtedly, something must have occurred [=unmentioned by scripture] that required their faith.” He then cites Ben Brachel who suggested that perhaps the sailors of Jonah’s ship came to Nineveh and told their extraordinary story. See Yehudah Zeibald, “פירוש רבינו חננאל בר שמואל למפטיר יונה” [Rabbeinu Hananel Bar Shemuel’s Commentary to Maftir Yonah], מוריה [Moriyah] 475–477 (Tishrei 5787): 9–16 (forthcoming). I am indebted to my friend, Rabbi Yehuda Zeibald, for sharing with me a draft of this text.
For a parallel verse, but seen as a positive, see:
יואל ב:יג וְקִרְעוּ לְבַבְכֶם וְאַל בִּגְדֵיכֶם וְשׁוּבוּ אֶל יְ־הֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם כִּי חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם הוּא אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב חֶסֶד וְנִחָם עַל הָרָעָה.
Joel 2:13 Rend your hearts rather than your garments, and turn back to YHWH your God. For [God] is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment.
For where the Jonah and Joel verses fit within this genre, see Zev Farber, “Does YHWH Remit Punishment,” TheTorah (2018).
The attributes in Exodus continue with other elements not covered here. For a discussion of the attributes texts, see Gary A. Anderson, “The Divine Attributes: Does Mercy Erase the Consequences of Sin?” TheTorah (2026); Harvey N. Bock, “Is God (Un)forgiving?” TheTorah (2024); Jonathan Magonet, “YHWH’s Attributes: What Moses Learns,” TheTorah (2026).
See discussion in Jack M. Sasson, “Jonah Struggles with God’s Compassion,” TheTorah (2023).
G. W. Leibniz, Theodicy. Part I, Section 73. A similar sentiment appears also in Psalms 58:11–12.
Summa Theologiae (Supplement, Question 94, Article 1).
Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, in Practical Philosophy, trans. and ed. Mary J. Gregor (Cambridge University Press, 1996), 474 (Ak. 6:333).
Nor is Jonah the only prophet who expresses despair over a failure of zeal. Elijah, another prophet-zealot, expresses his frustration at how the Israelites have sinned and want to kill him (1 Kings 19:10), though he is answered seriously as opposed to the mockery Jonah receives with the withering vine. On the later transformation of Elijah into a herald of universal peace and an angel of salvation, see my “The Angel and Covenant,” The Jewish Review of Books (Fall 2016), 21–22.
See discussion in Yitzhak (Itzik) Peleg, “The Book of Jonah: God’s Didactic Lesson on Repentance,” TheTorah (2022).
For a discussion of how, why, and when this enters into the haftara liturgy, see Marc Zvi Brettler (and Zev Farber), “Jonah Leaves Us with Questions, So on Yom Kippur We End with Micah,” TheTorah (2024).
Midrash Yonah in Judah D. Eisenstein, ed., אוצר מדרשים [Otzar Midrashim] (New York, 1915), 1.222.
