Naravist

The Prophets · Old Testament

Jonah 3

Jonah 3: a second word, forty days, and Nineveh in sackcloth

General context

"And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time," with the same opening command, "Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." This time Jonah goes. The narrator adds that Nineveh was "an exceeding great city of three days’ journey." Jonah enters "a day’s journey" and cries one sentence: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The people believe God, proclaim a fast and put on sackcloth, "from the greatest of them even to the least of them." Word reaches the king of Nineveh, who rises from his throne, lays aside his robe, covers himself with sackcloth and sits in ashes. He and his nobles publish a decree that neither man nor beast, herd nor flock is to taste anything or drink water, that man and beast are to be covered with sackcloth and "cry mightily unto God," and that everyone is to turn "from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands." The decree ends with a question rather than a claim: "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" The chapter closes with the narrator's report: "God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not."

Cited passages: Jonah 3:1, Jonah 3:2, Jonah 3:3, Jonah 3:4, Jonah 3:5, Jonah 3:6, Jonah 3:7, Jonah 3:8, Jonah 3:9, Jonah 3:10

Jonah 3 (KJV)

1And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

2Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

3So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.

4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

5So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

9Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The second commission repeats the first almost word for word, with "the second time" the only added marker; the text gives no interval between chapters. Nineveh is measured only as "an exceeding great city of three days’ journey," and no location, nation or ruler's name is given. The king is called "the king of Nineveh" and nothing else. The printed message is one sentence with no condition attached, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," so the possibility of relenting is first raised by the king, not by Jonah: "Who can tell if God will turn and repent." The sequence as printed has the people believing and fasting before word reaches the king. The narrator states the outcome in his own voice at verse 10 and stops there; nothing is said about what happened to the city afterwards, and Jonah is not mentioned again in this chapter. Matthew 12:41 refers back to this scene, saying the men of Nineveh "repented at the preaching of Jonas."

Cited passages: Jonah 3:1, Jonah 3:2, Jonah 1:2, Jonah 3:3, Jonah 3:6, Jonah 3:4, Jonah 3:9, Jonah 3:5, Jonah 3:10, Matthew 12:41

Literary context

The chapter restarts the book. Verse 1 echoes the book's first verse and puts "the second time" where that one had "the son of Amittai," and verse 2 repeats the command; where chapter 1 answered with "But Jonah rose up to flee," this one answers with "So Jonah arose, and went." Turning is the chapter's word: the decree says "let them turn every one from his evil way," the king asks whether God "will turn and repent," and the narrator reports that "they turned from their evil way" and "God repented." The response spreads outward and downward at once, from the whole people "from the greatest of them even to the least," to the king off his throne and out of his robe, to herds and flocks in sackcloth. Jonah's part shrinks as the response grows: he gets one printed sentence and no reply, and the king's decree is more than twice as long as the preaching that prompted it.

Cited passages: Jonah 3:1, Jonah 1:1, Jonah 1:3, Jonah 3:3, Jonah 3:8, Jonah 3:9, Jonah 3:10, Jonah 3:5, Jonah 3:6, Jonah 3:7, Jonah 3:4

Key moments

  1. The word a second time (Jonah 3:1). The word of the Lord comes to Jonah again with the same command.
  2. Yet forty days (Jonah 3:4). A day into the city, Jonah cries that in forty days Nineveh will be overthrown.
  3. Greatest to least (Jonah 3:5). The people believe God, proclaim a fast and put on sackcloth, all of them.
  4. The king off his throne (Jonah 3:6). The king of Nineveh leaves his throne, lays aside his robe and sits in ashes.
  5. Man and beast in sackcloth (Jonah 3:7). The royal decree stops all eating and drinking for people and animals alike.
  6. Who can tell (Jonah 3:9). The decree ends by asking whether God may turn from his fierce anger.
  7. God repented of the evil (Jonah 3:10). God sees their works, repents of the evil he had said, and does not do it.

For reflection

Jonah's printed message names a number of days and an outcome, with no condition. The hope of a reprieve is first spoken by the king: "Who can tell if God will turn and repent." What does it change that the possibility comes from the people being warned rather than from the man warning them?

People in this chapter