Jonah 3

Amplified Bible

Nineveh Repents

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ²“Go to Nineveh the great city and declare to it the message which I am going to tell you.” ³So Jonah went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a ^[a]three days’ walk [about sixty miles in circumference]. ⁴Then on the first day’s walk, Jonah ^[b]began to go through the city, and he called out and said, “Forty days more [remain] and [then] Nineveh will be overthrown!”

⁵The people of Nineveh believed and trusted in God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth [in penitent mourning], from the greatest even to the least of them. ⁶When word reached the king of Nineveh [of Jonah’s message from God], he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust [in repentance]. ⁷He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No man, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat or drink water. ⁸But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and every one is to call on God earnestly and forcefully that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹Who knows, God may turn [in compassion] and relent and withdraw His burning anger (judgment) so that we will not perish.”^(A)

¹⁰When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God [had compassion and] relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Footnotes

Jonah 3:3 It is usually assumed that the “three days’ walk” was the distance equal to the circumference of the walled city, but it would also include the open fields, farms, and villages that would have been considered the territory of Nineveh. In fact, a significant portion of what was considered an ancient city’s population typically were farmers who lived outside the city, and only left their farms for the protection of the city when an invading army threatened to attack. For another explanation of the distance, see note v 4.
Jonah 3:4 Even though it probably would not have taken Jonah long merely to walk from one end of the city to another, to reach the entire population of more than 120,000, Jonah undoubtedly had to work his way through countless streets and alleys. The term “day’s walk” here and in v 3 does not occur elsewhere in Scripture, so perhaps it refers to the time required to visit every part of the city rather than to walk the circumference (see note v 3).

Jonah 4

Amplified Bible

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. ²He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I ran to Tarshish, because I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness, and [when sinners turn to You] You revoke the [sentence of] disaster [against them].^(A) ³Therefore now, O Lord, just take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴Then the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?”

⁵Then Jonah went out of the city and sat east of it. There he made himself a shelter and sat under its shade so that he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶So the Lord God prepared a ^[a]plant and it grew up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head to spare him from discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about [the protection of] the plant. ⁷But God prepared a worm when morning dawned the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered. ⁸When the sun came up God prepared a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he fainted and he wished to die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about [the loss of] the plant?” And he said, “I have a [very] good reason to be angry, angry enough to die!” ¹⁰Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. ¹¹Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 [innocent] persons, who do not know the difference between their right and left hand [and are not yet accountable for sin], as well as many [blameless] animals?”