Jonah3
New Living Translation
1Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time:
2“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”
3This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.
4On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
6When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes.
7Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all.
8People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence.
9Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”
10When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Jonah 3.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Jonah sent again to Nineveh, preaches there. (1–4). Nineveh is spared upon the repentance of the inhabitants. (5–10).
vv1-4
God employs Jonah again in his service. His making use of us is an evidence of his being at peace with us. Jonah was not disobedient, as he had been. He neither endeavoured to avoid hearing the command, nor declined to obey it. See here the nature of repentance; it is the change of our mind and way, and a return to our work and duty. Also, the benefit of affliction; it brings those back to their place who had deserted it. See the power of Divine grace, for affliction of itself would rather drive men from God, than draw them to him. God's servants must go where he sends them, come when he calls them, and do what he bids them; we must do whatever the word of the Lord commands. Jonah faithfully and boldly delivered his errand. Whether Jonah said more, to show the anger of God against them, or whether he only repeated these words again and again, is not certain, but this was the purport of his message. Forty days is a long time for a righteous God to delay judgments, yet it is but a little time for an unrighteous people to repent and reform in. And should it not awaken us to get ready for death, to consider that we cannot be so sure that we shall live forty days, as Nineveh then was that it should stand forty days? We should be alarmed if we were sure not to live a month, yet we are careless though we are not sure to live a day.
vv5-10
There was a wonder of Divine grace in the repentance and reformation of Nineveh. It condemns the men of the gospel generation, Mt 12:41. A very small degree of light may convince men that humbling themselves before God, confessing their sins with prayer, and turning from sin, are means of escaping wrath and obtaining mercy. The people followed the example of the king. It became a national act, and it was necessary it should be so, when it was to prevent a national ruin. Let even the brute creatures' cries and moans for want of food remind their owners to cry to God. In prayer we must cry mightily, with fixedness of thought, firmness of faith, and devout affections. It concerns us in prayer to stir up all that is within us. It is not enough to fast for sin, but we must fast from sin; and, in order to the success of our prayers, we must no more regard iniquity in our hearts, Ps 66:18. The work of a fast-day is not done with the day. The Ninevites hoped that God would turn from his fierce anger; and that thus their ruin would be prevented. They could not be so confident of finding mercy upon their repentance, as we may be, who have the death and merits of Christ, to which we may trust for pardon upon repentance. They dared not presume, but they did not despair. Hope of mercy is the great encouragement to repentance and reformation. Let us boldly cast ourselves down at the footstool of free grace, and God will look upon us with compassion. God sees who turn from their evil ways, and who do not. Thus he spared Nineveh. We read of no sacrifices offered to God to make atonement for sin; but a broken and a contrite heart, such as the Ninevites then had, he will not despise.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
יוֹנָה: Jonah, an Israelite
שֵׁנִי: properly, double, i.e. second; also adverbially, again
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
קוּם: to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)
יָלַךְ: to walk (literally or figuratively); causatively, to carry (in various senses)
נִינְוֵה: Nineveh, the capital of Assyria
גָּדוֹל: great (in any sense); hence, older; also insolent
עִיר: a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)
קָרָא: to call out to (i.e. properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications)
Cross References
Jonah 3Jesus directly cites the repentance of the Ninevites to condemn His generation's unbelief.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallel Gospel account where Christ testifies that Nineveh repented at Jonah's preaching.
Supported by JFB
Jonah is declared a sign to the Ninevites, symbolizing the Son of Man's sign.
Supported by JFB
Parable of the son who first refused but later repented and went, reflecting Jonah.
Supported by JFB
The foundational covenant principle of conditional prophecy regarding a nation's repentance or doom.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates the Hebrew idiom connecting God with immense size, i.e., 'great mountains of God'.
Supported by JFB
Another example of the Hebrew linguistic idiom associating massive scale with God's name.
Supported by JFB
Identical hopeful plea: 'Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing?'
Jesus references sackcloth and ashes as classic, ancient expressions of deep national repentance.
Exhorts Israel to amend their ways so God will repent of the pronounced evil.
Jonah's own explanation of his flight, knowing God is merciful and repents of evil.
The original command given to Jonah, highlighting his restoration to office.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the act of sitting down in ashes as a symbol of extreme mourning and humility.
Ahab's fast, sackcloth, and humbling, which similarly prompted God to delay judgment.