Jonah
Chapter 3
In Nineveh
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time:
“Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”
Following the Lord’s command, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days to cross it.
So Jonah traveled about a day’s journey and started proclaiming: “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”
The people of the city believed in God. They declared a fast, and everyone, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh rose from his throne, removed his royal robe, donned sackcloth, and sat down in ashes.
He proclaimed throughout Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or animals, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink.
But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence.
Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from his fierce anger and spare us.”
When God saw their actions and how they turned from their evil ways, he felt compassion and chose not to carry out the destruction he had threatened.
Commentaries
In Nineveh.
Now Jonah obeys God’s command, though with a certain indifference and contempt for the Ninevites; he only travels part of the way through the city, and without mentioning that he is delivering God’s word, he declares, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!” The forty days suggest a period open to a process of repentance, which Jonah did not expect. In fact, the prophet’s words reach the king, and the signs of repentance are immediate and astonishing: even the animals must fast and wear sackcloth.