Jonah for Normal People

A Guide to the Most Misunderstood Prophet of the Bible (The Bible for Normal People)

Jonah’s encounter with a big fish is one of the most widely recognized—and misunderstood—stories in the Bible. In this highly accessible guide to the book of Jonah, Jared Byas invites modern-day listeners to explore the context behind the story and consider the questions Jonah’s early audience faced: questions about the relationship between justice and mercy, what it means to be a worshipper of Yahweh (and who gets to be one), and what happens when God doesn’t act how we would like.

Through explorations of genre, language, history, themes and theology, Byas skillfully guides us on a journey with Jonah into the depths of the unknown...and finds many of these questions are still relevant today.

©2022 The Bible for Normal People (P)2022 The Bible for Normal People

A journey into justice

I enjoyed the discussion of the small details that most people miss when hearing or reading Jonah... the exegesis of words by Jonah and G-d together, the question of what justice looks like for Jonah and for the Ninevites, the subtleties of the story that pass us by if we don't pay attention. Thanks for making the Bible make sense in new ways.