Jonah - The Fish

The Fish

Interpretations of the "fish" fall into these general categories:

  1. A big fish or whale (of unspecified species) did indeed swallow Jonah.
  2. A special creation (not any fish we know of) of God accomplished the act.
  3. There was no fish: the story is an allegory, the fish is a literary device in the story, the story is a vision or a dream etc.
  4. The originators of the story did indeed intend for the story to be taken literally.

Read more about this topic:  Jonah

Famous quotes containing the words the fish and/or fish:

    “The laying of fish on the embers,
    the taste of the fish,
    the feel of the texture of bread,
    the round and the half-loaf,
    the grain of a petal,
    the rain-bow and the rain.”
    —Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)

    “Let a man get up and say, “Behold, this is the truth,” and instantly I perceive a sandy cat filching a piece of fish in the background. Look, you have forgotten the cat, I say.”
    —Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)

    “Everything seems beautiful because you don’t understand. Those flying fish, they’re not leaping for joy, they’re jumping in terror. Bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water, it takes its gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies, the glitter of putrescence. There’s no beauty here, only death and decay.”
    —Curtis Siodmak (1902–1988)