Was Jonah swallowed by a fish or whale?

Answer 1

When Jonah was cast into the sea, a "great fish" that the Lord had prepared for him swallowed him. Jonah was swallowed by a fish, not a whale, since a whale is a mammal, not a fish.

By a WhaleMatthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly.

The Greek word translated "whale" in the King James Version (above) and many other English translations may also be translated "great fish." The word is ketos or kaytos � probably derived from the word xasma or khasmah (from which we get the English word chasm) � referring to a huge fish "gaping for prey." More than likely the translators of the 17th century KJV didn't know or didn't care that a whale is not a fish; for them, if it swam and had "fins," it was a fish.

By a FishJonah 1:17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

Here the Hebrew words for "great" (gadol) and "fish" (dag) are used. (Perhaps someone who knows Hebrew could edit this answer to state whether the Hebrew language had a word for "whale?")

By the Sea Monster, LeviathanMatthew 12:40 - New American Standard Bible:

"for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth".

Whale and fish are synonymous in Biblical classificationBoth whale and fish are correct. In Jonah 1:17 "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah", but in Matthew 12:40, it is written "For as three days, and three nights was Jonas in the whale's belly; so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." This isn't a contradiction. First, it says a great fish, and then it says, the whale's belly. In biblical classification, a whale is a fish. so that is not a contradiction.

Fish would be more accurate.

It is a fact that most whales have throats about the size of a grapefruit! Therefore Jonah was swallowed by a large fish!

***Jonah was not swallowed by anything. Rather he was "in the belly of the whale, or Great Fish". This is the Constellation Cetus (the great Fish). He was a sailor and all sailors navigated by the stars and constellations those stars formed. Constellations are simply groups of stars (grouped by people to be able to remember the names of the stars). Jonah was at sea, stuck in the "belly" of the constellation Cetus for 3 days and nights before being mercifully washed ashore.) This understanding takes nothing from the sense of the story, but rather enhances the validity of it.***

Answer 2

In Biblical Hebrew, we don't have specific names for types of fish. The relevant words are all generic. And it has been demonstrated that a sperm whale is quite capable of swallowing a human in one piece, since they have swallowed whole giant squids (National Geographic, and the Smithsonian publication). The same ability holds for Great White Sharks, which have swallowed six-foot Blue sharks whole.See also the Related Link.

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