Jonah 3

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, 1 a three-day journey 1 in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then a he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5 So the b people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth c and sat in ashes. 7 d And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his 3 nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, e let every one turn from his evil way and from f the violence that is in his hands. 9 g Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

10 h Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

  1. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 18:22
    When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
  2. Cross References
    Matthew 12:41
    The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
    Luke 11:32
    The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
  3. Cross References
    Job 2:8
    And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.
  4. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 20:3
    And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
    Daniel 3:29
    "Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and AbedNego' shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this."
    Joel 2:15
    Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:6
    Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 59:6
    Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands.
  7. Cross References
    2 Samuel 12:22
    And he said, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?
    Joel 2:14
    Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him - A grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God?
    Amos 5:15
    Hate evil, love good; Establish justice in the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
  8. Cross References
    Exodus 32:14
    So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
    Jeremiah 18:8
    If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
    Amos 7:3
    So the LORD relented concerning this. "It shall not be," said the LORD.
    Amos 7:6
    So the LORD relented concerning this. "This also shall not be," said the Lord GOD.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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