1Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” (Jon 1:2)3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,[1] three days’ journey in breadth.[2] (Jon 3:2)4Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”5And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. (2Sa 3:31; 2Ch 20:3; Mt 12:41; Lu 11:32)
The People of Nineveh Repent
6The word reached[3] the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (Job 1:20; Job 2:8; Eze 26:16)7And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, (Ps 36:6; Da 6:26; Joe 1:18; Joe 1:20; Jon 4:11)8but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. (Isa 59:6; Jer 18:11; Jer 36:3; Jon 3:7)9Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” (2Sa 12:22; Ps 85:3; Joe 2:14)10When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jer 18:8)
Jonah 3
King James Version
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.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.4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day' journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.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.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: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.9Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish 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.