Jonah 3

¹And the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the second time, saying, ²Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

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.

Commentary · verses 1-2

For the second time, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach (to call out, proclaim) the preaching that God commanded of him.

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

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.

Commentary · verse 3

Jonah was repentant. Jonah followed God's command.

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.

Commentary · verse 4

Jonah proclaimed that Nineveh would be overthrown in forty days. God had declared judgment upon Nineveh through Jonah. What was the cause of Nineveh's judgment? From this book, all we know was the similarity between Sodom and Nineveh: their wickedness had come up to God (1:2). What was the cause of Sodom's judgment? Ezekiel 16:49 stated four causes:

pride,
fulness of bread,
prosperous ease (idleness of time), and
failed to strengthen the arm of the poor.

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

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.

Commentary · verse 5

The Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and everyone humbled themselves by putting on sackcloth. The Ninevites immediately addressed the first two causes of the judgment on Sodom: pride and fulness of bread by humbling themselves and fasting.

⁶And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

⁷And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;

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:

Commentary · verses 6-7

A fast was proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the king.

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

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.

Commentary · verse 8

Notice, this decree from the king told people what to do: pray to God and turn from the violence in their hands. Ceasing from work and praying to God definitely addressed cause #3: prosperous ease (idleness of time). It was a call to repentance to turn from the evil way. Ceasing from the violence that was in their hands could have addressed cause #4: strengthening the hand of the poor. There were at least two other references in the Old Testament that showed dealing with the poor affected judgment:

In Daniel 4:27, Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar the following ways to delay the judgment that was prophesied in the king's dream: "...break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor..."
In Amos 8:4, God stated the following about Israel when He was declaring judgment: "Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail."

Also, God had stated to Solomon, in 2 Chronicles 7:14, how to avoid judgment: "If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

⁹Who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

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

Commentary · verse 9

The people did not expect God to turn away from His anger, they hoped He would. Regardless, the Ninevites addressed at least three (and possibly all four) of the causes for Sodom's judgment. How did God respond to this?

¹⁰And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them; and he did it 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.

Commentary · verse 10

The Ninevites were repentant and God saw their works and repented of the evil He was going to do to them. It appeared that Nineveh's response to do the opposite of the causes of Sodom's judgment caused God to not follow through on what was prophesied through Jonah. Notice, God stated He would have spared Sodom for ten righteous people. As far as we know only three made it out: Lot and his two daughters. Also, God did not spare the world from the Flood for the sake of eight people: Noah, three sons and all four wives. Clearly, more than ten Ninevites confessed and repented. Would God have spared Nineveh if only ten people had addressed the four causes of judgment?

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#40 Repent v. 7-10

Jonah 3

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