Jonah · chapter 3 of 4
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In Jonah 3 the Lord sends Jonah to Nineveh a second time. Jonah announces that in forty days the city will be overthrown, and the people of Nineveh believe God: they proclaim a fast, put on sackcloth, the king humbles himself and all turn from their evil way. God sees what they do, has compassion and does not send the announced punishment.
After being rescued in chapter 2, Jonah receives a second chance. Chapter 3 is the shortest and the most surprising in its results: the most reluctant preacher achieves the greatest revival in the Bible, in a city that is an enemy of Israel. It shows that repentance can spring up where least expected.
The word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time: arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message he will tell him. This time Jonah obeys and goes to Nineveh. The city was so large that it took three days' journey to go through it. Jonah begins to enter it a day's journey and cries out that in forty days Nineveh will be overthrown.
The people of Nineveh believe God. They call a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. When the news reaches the king of Nineveh, he rises from his throne, takes off his robe, covers himself with sackcloth and sits in ashes. Then he has a decree proclaimed, with his nobles: let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything or drink water; let everyone be covered with sackcloth and call out mightily to God, and let each turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
The king wonders who knows whether God will turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that they may not perish. God sees what they do, how they turn from their evil way, and God relents of the disaster he had said he would do to them, and he does not do it.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time and again sends him to Nineveh. God does not discard the prophet who failed but gives him a fresh opportunity.
The Ninevites believe God and declare a fast, from the greatest to the least. That they believed the word of a foreign and unknown prophet is a surprise that contrasts with the hardness of Israel.
The king's decree asks them to call out mightily to God and to turn from their evil way and violence. Repentance is not only mourning but a concrete change of conduct.
God sees what they did, that they turned from their evil way, and relents of the disaster he had said he would do to them. The book shows that God responds with mercy to anyone who turns to him, even an enemy people.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Jonah obeys and goes to Nineveh. — Jonah 3:1-3
Answer: As a very great city, three days' journey across. — Jonah 3:3
Answer: That in forty days Nineveh will be overthrown. — Jonah 3:4
Answer: They believed God, called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. — Jonah 3:5
Answer: He rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. — Jonah 3:6
Answer: He relented of the disaster he had said he would do to them, and did not do it. — Jonah 3:10
Jonah 3 shows that God gives second chances. Jonah had failed, but the Lord called him again, and this time he obeyed. In a Sunday school class you can ask in which area of life God is calling us again after we have failed, and whether we are willing to respond.
It also challenges our expectations about who can repent. The Ninevites, a feared and violent people, responded faster than many in Israel. We must not write off anyone, people or communities, as impossible to reach. And the king's decree teaches that true repentance includes leaving violence and the evil way, not only showing sorrow.
Jonah 3 shows God having compassion on Nineveh, and the story could end here with a happy ending. But chapter 4 will reveal how Jonah reacts to God's mercy, and the book closes with an open question.
The Hebrew word indicates a change of course, not a mistake by God. The announcement of destruction carried the condition that the people not repent. When they turned from their evil way, God acted according to his compassionate character, as explained in Jonah 4:2.
The text says it was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey across. It is understood as a way of expressing its great extent or the time needed to go through it, including its nearby areas.
Christians receive it as history narrated by the Bible, and Jesus mentions it in Matthew 12:41 and Luke 11:32, saying the people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. Other readers stress the book's teaching character. Either way the message is the same.