Jonah 3:1-10 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In Lesson 1, “the LORD’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai” (Jonah 1:1), telling him to go to Nineveh; “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:3).
The last line of the last lesson was: “Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land” (Jonah 2:10).
In this lesson, the LORD speaks to him again.
1The LORD’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.”
3So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s word. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across.
4Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
5The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.
6The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;
8but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?”
10God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.
The second time. “The LORD’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city’” (vv. 1–2). In Lesson 1 the command was also, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city” (Jonah 1:2). This time the passage records nothing about his running away; it records only the command, now “preach to it the message that I give you” (v. 2).
According to the LORD’s word. In Lesson 1, “Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3). In this lesson, “So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s word” (v. 3). The passage says, “Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across” (v. 3).
In forty days. “Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, ‘In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!’” (v. 4). Of what he proclaimed, the passage records only this one sentence.
They believed God. “The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least” (v. 5). When the news reached the king, “he arose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes” (v. 6). The king ordered people and animals alike to fast and put on sackcloth, “and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands” (vv. 7–8).
Who knows? The king did not say what would surely happen. He said, “Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?” (v. 9). In Lesson 1 the ship master said something close: “Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish” (Jonah 1:6).
God relented. The last line of this passage is: “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it” (v. 10).
Later, the LORD said through the prophet Jeremiah: “At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it, if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them” (Jer 18:7-8).
Readers can see this: Nineveh was not a city of Israel. When the LORD said this, he spoke of “a nation, and concerning a kingdom” (Jer 18:7).
Perhaps you have fallen too: you did not go where you were meant to go, or you went the opposite way. Perhaps you think God will not speak to you again.
This lesson does not say that everything you missed will come back to you exactly as it was. What it shows you is this: Jonah ran once, and “The LORD’s word came to Jonah the second time” (v. 1); this time the passage records no rebuke, only the same command. Lamentations says: “It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness” (Lam 3:22-23).
This week: Think of something you once ran from, or did not do well. This week, find a time to bring it before God and ask: ‘What is one step I can take today?’ Write that step down.
When the people of Nineveh heard Jonah, they turned from their evil way (vv. 5–10).
Jesus said: “The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here” (Matt 12:41). He also said: “For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will also be to this generation” (Luke 11:30).
These two are read side by side: Nineveh, which turned back at a single sentence from Jonah, and Jesus’ words, “someone greater than Jonah is here” (Matt 12:41).
Scripture: World English Bible.