JONAS was the son of Amathi. Although the Book of Jonah is named after him, modern Jewish and Christian scholars do not regard it as an historical narrative. The work is dated between the fourth and third centuries before our era. Jonas tried to escape from the errand the Lord had given him: to preach to the people of Nineveh. He took a ship to Tarshish instead, but the Lord sent a storm, and Jonas was thrown overboard. A great sea beast swallowed him, and after three days it cast him up on the beach at Nineveh (Jonas 1-4).

The Man of Law asks the rhetorical question, "Who kept Jonas in the fish's maw?" MLT 486-487.

Jonas, the form in the Latin Vulgate, appears medially, MLT 486.