Jonah and the Fish Bible Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

Bible trivia quiz questions and answers about Jonah and the Fish

Jonah and the Fish Bible Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

Who was Jonah?
A: Jonah or is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE.

He is the eponymous central figure of what biblical book?
A: The Book of Jonah.

In the book he is called upon by God to do what?
A: Travel to Nineveh and warn its residents of impending divine wrath.

Instead, Jonah does what?
A: He boards a ship to Tarshish.

Caught in a storm, he orders the ship's crew to do what?
A: To cast him overboard, whereupon he is swallowed by a giant fish.

Three days later, after Jonah agrees to go to Nineveh, the fish does what?
A: Vomits him out onto the shore.

Jonah successfully convinces the entire city of Nineveh to do what?
A: To repent, but waits outside the city in expectation of its destruction.

God shields Jonah from the sun with what?
A: A plant.

God later sends a worm to do what?
A: To cause the plant to wither.

When Jonah complains of the bitter heat what does God do?
A: God rebukes him.

In Judaism, the story of Jonah represents the teaching of teshuva, which is what?
A: The ability to repent and be forgiven by God.

In the New Testament, Jesus calls himself "greater than Jonah" and promises the Pharisees what?
A: "The sign of Jonah", which is his resurrection.

Early Christian interpreters viewed Jonah as what?
A: A type for Jesus.

Later, during the Reformation, Jonah came to be seen instead as a what?
A: An archetype for the "envious Jew".

Jonah is regarded as a prophet in what religion?
A: Islam.

The biblical narrative of Jonah is repeated, with a few notable differences, in what?
A: In the Quran.

Mainstream Bible scholars generally regard the Book of Jonah as what?
A: Fictional.

The character of Jonah may have been based on the historical prophet of the same name mentioned where?
A: In 2 Kings 14:25.

Although the word "whale" is often used in English versions of the Jonah story, the Hebrew text actually uses the phrase dag gadol, which means what?
A: "Giant fish".

In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the species of the fish that swallowed Jonah was the subject of speculation for whom?
A: For naturalists, who interpreted the story as an account of a historical incident.

Some modern scholars of folklore have noted similarities between Jonah and other legendary figures, such as whom?
A: Gilgamesh and the Greek hero Jason.

Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah, in which God commands him to go to what city?
A: The city of Nineveh to prophesy against it.

Jonah instead attempts to flee from "the presence of the Lord" by going where?
A: To Jaffa, and sailing to Tarshish.

A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover what?
A: They discover that Jonah is to blame.

Jonah admits this and states what?
A: That if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease.

The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to do what?
A: To throw Jonah overboard.

As a result what happens?
Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish.

While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to what?
A: Thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed.

God then commands the fish to do what?
A: To vomit Jonah out.

God again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and do what?
A: Prophesy to its inhabitants.

This time he goes and enters the city, crying what?
A: “In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to what?
A: To believe his word and proclaim a fast.

The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees what?
A: Fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance.

God sees their repentant hearts and does what?
A: He spares the city at that time.

He leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see what?
A: Whether or not the city will be destroyed.

God causes a plant (in Hebrew a kikayon) to grow over Jonah's shelter to give him what?
A: Some shade from the sun.

Later, God causes a worm to do what?
A: To bite the plant's root and make it wither.

Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun pleads for God to do what?
A: Kill him.

According to one tradition, Jonah was the boy brought back to life by whom?
A: Elijah the prophet in 1 Kings 17.

Another tradition holds that he was the son of whom?
A: The woman of Shunem brought back to life by Elisha in 2 Kings 4.

When is the Book of Jonah read every year in its original Hebrew and in its entirety?
A: On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as the Haftarah at the afternoon mincha prayer.

According to Rabbi Eliezer, the fish that swallowed Jonah was created in the primordial era and the inside of its mouth was like a what?
A: A synagogue; the fish's eyes were like windows and a pearl inside its mouth provided further illumination.

According to the Midrash, while Jonah was inside the fish, it told him what?
A: That its life was nearly over because soon the Leviathan would eat them both.

What did Jonah promise the fish?
A: That he would save them.

Following Jonah's directions, the fish swam up alongside the Leviathan and Jonah did what?
A: He threatened to leash the Leviathan by its tongue and let the other fish eat it.

The Leviathan heard Jonah's threats, saw that he was circumcised, and realized what?
A: That he was protected by the Lord, so it fled in terror, leaving Jonah and the fish alive.

The medieval Jewish scholar and rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (1092 – 1167) argued against any literal interpretation of the Book of Jonah, stating what?
A: That the "experiences of all the prophets except Moses were visions, not actualities.

The later scholar Isaac Abarbanel (1437 – 1509), however, argued that Jonah could have easily survived in the belly of the fish for three days, stating what?
A: "After all, fetuses live nine months without access to fresh air."

In his fresco The Last Judgment, Michelangelo depicted Christ below Jonah (IONAS) to qualify what?
A: The prophet as his precursor.

In the New Testament where is Jonah mentioned?
A: In Matthew 12:38–41 and 16:4 and in Luke 11:29–32.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes a reference to Jonah when he is asked for what?
A: A sign by some of the scribes and the Pharisees.

Jesus says that the sign will be the sign of what?
A: The sign of Jonah: Jonah's restoration after three days inside the great fish prefigures His own resurrection.

Matthew 12:41-42 and Luke 11:31–32 assert in parallel wording that Jesus is greater what?
A: Greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon.

Jonah is regarded as a “what” by a number of Christian denominations?
A: A saint.

When is his feast day in the Roman Catholic Church?
A: On September 21, according to the Martyrologium Romanum.

In the Armenian Apostolic Church, moveable feasts are held in commemoration of Jonah as what?
A: A single prophet and as one of the Twelve Minor Prophets.

Jonah's mission to the Ninevites is commemorated by the Fast of Nineveh in what churches?
A: Syriac and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Jonah being in swallowed by the giant fish was regarded as a foreshadowing of what?
A: Jesus's crucifixion and the fish vomiting Jonah out onto the beach was seen as a parallel for Jesus's resurrection.

John Calvin and John Hooper regarded the Book of Jonah as a what?
A: A warning to all those who might attempt to flee from the wrath of God.

In the eighteenth century, German professors were forbidden from teaching that the Book of Jonah was what?
A: Anything other than a literal, historical account.

Jonah is mentioned how many times in the Quran?
A: Four.

He is the only one of the Twelve Minor Prophets to be what?
A: Mentioned by name.

The Quran never mentions Jonah's father, but Muslim tradition teaches that Jonah was from where?
A: From the tribe of Benjamin and that his father was Amittai.

Jonah is also mentioned in a few incidents during the lifetime of whom?
A: Muhammad.

In some instances, Jonah's name is spoken of with praise and reverence by whom?
A: Muhammad.