Jonah 3, An Ancient City Repents

Jonah, running from God, has been saved by a fish and vomited onto a beach.

Jonah 3:1-4, Go again!

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."  

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city--a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."  

Jonah still has a mission to fulfill. Running west when he was to go east has not changed that. And so Jonah travels far east of Israel, to the ancient city of Nineveh. Nineveh, an important city throughout the times of the Assyrian Empire will eventually be the capital city of Assyria in the reign of Sennacherib, about 700 BC, before falling to an army of Babylonians and Medians under the control Nabopolassar in 612. 

(Ancient Nineveh was located just north of the modern city of Mosul. After the recent Iraqi wars, archaeological excavations have now resumed there; see for example this Archaelogy Magazine article.)

Nineveh is large enough that it takes "three days" to visit it. This might mean three days to walk through it; most likely three days to walk around it. As Jonah walks he gives a forecast of doom -- Nineveh will be destroyed in forty days. (The ANE emphasis on certain numbers, three and forty, appears here. At times those two numbers had a more general meaning of "some" (more than one) for "three" and "many", for "forty". Although the Masoretic text has "forty" for the upcoming disaster, the Septuagint has instead "three", so that, as Jonah spends three days walking in the city, he proclaims a disaster that will occur in three days.)

Ellison asks the question here, "Why does God continue with Jonah?" Given Jonah's stubbornness, one might assume that God as Jonah ran west, God would pick another Israelite to go east to Nineveh. But Jonah has a job to do and YHWH insists on continuing to work with this one stubborn prophet.

Jonah's message appears to be fairly simple. It does not mention idolatry or the Mosaic Law. It appears to only describe impending destruction.

Jonah 3:5-9, Surprising success!

The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.  

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.  Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: 

"By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."  

Jonah's message is, surprisingly, met with overwhelming success. Everyone reacts in fear and then faith, declaring a fast and (as common in the ANE) putting on sackcloth. Indeed, the king (unnamed) declares a fast for all of the people and even for the animals! (Surely there is some hyperbole here; how does one put sackcloth on all the animals? But the declaration is symbolic, dramatic, representing the repentance of the king and the people.)

Although Assyria was a powerful empire in the Eighth Century BC, it did have serious enemies. Tribes to the north, such as Urartu, were a powerful threat and there were regular campaigns against those nearby kingdoms. Ellison suggests that Jonah's message might have resonated with a Ninevite leader who heard rumors of an impending attack.

Jonah 3: 10, Compassion

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.   

The repentance of the Ninevites has the desired effect: God relents and does not bring destruction down on them.

First published July 10, 2025; updated July 10, 2025