1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God. 3:8
3:1-41 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
The word of God came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
Go to Nineveh and preach to it.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
So Jonah went to Nineveh.
(Nineveh was a huge city, three days' journey in across.) [1]
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
When he entered the city, he cried out saying,
Nineveh will be overthrown in forty days. [2]
3:5-95So 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.
So everyone in Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth. [3]
6 For 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.
The king of Nineveh put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.
7 And 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:
And proclaimed a decree, saying,
No one in the kingdom, man or beast, will eat anything or drink any water.
8 But 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.
And everyone, including the animals, must cover themselves with sackcloth and cry out to God. [4]
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Who knows?
Maybe God will repent and not kill us all.
3:1010 And 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.
And God repented of the evil he said he'd do to them. [5]
That would make it about 60 miles in diameter -- larger than Los Angeles!
Jonah prophesies that in forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown.
But it didn't happen because God repented (v.10).
Everyone in Nineveh turned to God. Jonah must be one hell of a preacher!
Even the animals converted and put on sackcloth when they heard Jonah preach!
