Jonah 3
1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 So 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.
6 For 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.
7 And 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:
8 But 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.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 And 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.
Common Questions About Jonah 3
What happens when Jonah finally preaches to Nineveh in chapter 3?
Jonah delivers a brief message announcing Nineveh's coming destruction in forty days, and remarkably, the entire city, from the king down to the common people, responds with genuine repentance, fasting, and turning from their evil ways.
How does God respond to Nineveh's repentance?
Seeing their genuine change of heart and actions, God relents from the disaster He had threatened, showing that His warnings of judgment are not fixed and unconditional but responsive to genuine repentance, even for a notoriously violent Gentile city.
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Questions to Think About
- Nineveh's repentance was immediate, thorough, and citywide, arguably a more genuine response than what many of Israel's own prophets encountered. What does this teach about assuming who is or isn't receptive to change?
- God's willingness to relent in response to repentance shows His judgments are not rigidly fixed. How does this shape your own approach to correcting course when you recognize you're on the wrong path?
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