Read it cover to cover.....Jonah fits chronologically in other books, and those books add to the message of the book of Jonah.
It is tedious getting through the lists of names in Chronicles and the detailed law of Deuteronomy and such, but the difficult sections like that are few and the reading is steady after you plod through those parts. It's worth it for knowing you have done it, and sooner or later you will likely see how a lot of those names and details fit in for God's complete revelation of Himself to us in His Word.
You have to read cover to cover to really see how God works his plan through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, leading up to the Bablylonian captivity and then the prophets who wrote while under Babylonian and then Persian rule.
God always wanted holiness in His people, and they kept on compromising and disobeying untill finally He did what He said He would do and let them fall under judgement to be carried away captive into Babylon. He wants holiness today, and reading the Word of God from cover to cover is an excellent pursuit of holiness, putting the strength of your heart and mind into following your desire to know God better. Daniel, David, and others wrote of how they sought the Lord early each day, and often throughout the day. God will accept mediocre believers as His children, but He wants believers whose hearts are fully His, pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
It's good you have sincere desire to know God better...I just want to encourage you to force yourself to plod through cover to cover, it's worth it, and then do it again and again as long as you are able. I believe it's only 85 verses per day on average to read it once a year. That's not much, and there's plenty of time in between for reading favorite of chosen parts extra as you move through cover to cover. I like to read Eccliastes and The Revelation of Jesus Christ from time to time as I read through cover to cover at least once per year.....on my third year of cover to cover now. Most of my 30 years as a believer my readings and studies were more random. Reading cover to cover and seeing things including the minor and major prophets, psalms, proverbs, and all iis amazing and if I could go back and read it cover to cover once a year for the last thirty years, I would read it twice per year...working on reading twice through this year...it's worth it, sister.
And of course, read the King James Bible through cover to cover. All modern versions leave out a lot and make a lot of key changes of doctine by changing key words in certain verses.
Thank you for the heartfelt responses, Kim. Sorry if I made anyone feel like it was something that was deeply affecting me. I've actually pondered that question in the past too, and have my own theories but this time it was just my mind wandering..
