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Bible Encyclopedias
Jonas
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Ι᾿ωνᾶς , for the Heb. Jonah), the Graecized form of the name of three men in the Apocrypha and New Testament.
1. The prophet JONAH (2 Esdr. 1, 39; Tobit 14:4; Tobit 14:8; Matthew 12:39-41; Matthew 16:4; Luke 11:29-30; Luke 11:32).
2. A person occupying the same position in 1 Esdras 9:23 as ELIEZER in the corresponding list in Ezra 10:23. Perhaps the corruption originated in reading אליעיני for אליעזר, as appears to have been the case in 1 Esdras 9:32 (compare Ezra 10:31). The former would have caught the compiler's eye from Ezra 10:22, and the original form Elionas, as it appears in the Vulg., could easily have become Jonas.
3. The father of the apostle Peter (John 21:15-17). In John 1:42 the name is less correctly Anglicized "Jona" (some MSS. have Ι᾿ωάννης ). A.D. ante 25. (See BAR-JONA). Instead of Ι᾿ωνᾶ (genitive) in all the above passages, good codices have Ι᾿ωάννου or Ι᾿ωάνου, which latter Lachmann has introduced into the text. Perhaps Jonas is but a contraction for Joannas (Luke 3:27), which is the same as John.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Jonas'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/j/jonas.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
