Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Go to aNineveh the great city and bdeclare to it the message which I am going to tell you.”Zeph 2:13Jer 1:17; Ezek 2:7 3 So Jonah went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an aexceedingly great city, a 1three days’ walk about sixty miles in circumference.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.Jon 1:2; 4:11 4 Then on the first day’s walk, Jonah 1began to go through the city, and he acalled out and said, “Forty days more remain and then Nineveh will be overthrown!”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).Matt 12:41; Luke 11:32
5 The people of Nineveh believed and trusted in God; and they proclaimed a afast and put on sackcloth in penitent mourning, from the greatest even to the least of them.Dan 9:3; Joel 1:14 6 When word reached the king of Nineveh of Jonah’s message from God, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, acovered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust in repentance.Esth 4:1-4; Jer 6:26; Ezek 27:30, 31 7 He issued a aproclamation 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.2 Chr 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Jon 3:5 8 But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and every one is to acall on God earnestly and forcefully that each may bturn from his wicked way and from the violence that is in his hands.Ps 130:1; Jon 1:6, 14Is 1:16-19; 55:6, 7; Jer 18:11 9 aWho knows, God may turn in compassion and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” Joel 2:13, 142 Sam 12:22; Joel 2:14
10 When God saw their deeds, that they aturned from their wicked way, then bGod had compassion and relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.1 Kin 21:27-29; Jer 31:18Ex 32:14; Jer 18:8; Amos 7:3, 6