Jonah 3:5-9

5 The men of Nineveh believed in God.^[a][b] They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth-from the greatest of them to the least.

6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water.

8 Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence^[c] he is doing.^[d]

9 Who knows? God may turn and relent;^[e] He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.

Jonah 3:5-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 3

This chapter gives an account of the renewal of Jonah's message to Nineveh, and of his faithful execution of it, Jon 3:1-4; and of the fruit and effect of it, the conversion of the Ninevites, their faith in God, repentance of their sins, and reformation from them, Jon 3:5-9; and of God's approbation thereof, by revoking the sentence he had pronounced upon them, Jon 3:10.

Footnotes

• [a] Or believed God
• [b] Mt 12:41
• [c] Or injustice
• [d] Lit violence in their hands
• [e] Jl 2:14