Jonah 3: Nineveh hears and repents

• v.1-3 God calls again and Jonah obeys
• v.4,5 Jonah preaches and collectively Nineveh respond
• v.6-9 The king calls on the city to repent
• v.10 The Lord Relents

v.1-3 God calls again and Jonah obeys

v.1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 

v.2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 

v.3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 

[Notes: The Lord speaks again to Jonah [Activity No.7 of God] telling him to go to Nineveh and this time he goes, taking three days to work his way through this large city. We might note in passing that having been living in the acids in the inside of the fish for three days, Jonah is almost certainly a horribly bleached apparition which may have been used by the Lord to bring conviction to all who saw and heard him throughout this massive city!]

v.4,5 Jonah preaches and collectively Nineveh respond

v.4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 

v.5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 

[Notes: As he prophesies their destruction they believe and repent. [as we belief repentance and conviction only comes from the Lord we see this as Activity No.8 of God]

v.6-9 The king calls on the city to repent

v.6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 

v.7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 

v.8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 

v.9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 

[Notes: This conviction goes all the way to the royal palace and the king issues a decree that the whole city must repent.]

v.10 The Lord Relents

v.10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

[Notes: The outcome is that God does not destroy them. [Activity No.9 of God]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: