Jonah 3 - Summary

The word of the LORD comes to Jonah a second time with the same commission, and now the prophet obeys, journeying to the exceedingly great city of Nineveh which requires three days to traverse. Jonah proclaims the simple message 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,' and the Ninevites respond with immediate, universal repentance from king to commoner—fasting, donning sackcloth, and turning from violence with hope that God might relent. When God sees their works and repentance, He relents from the disaster He had threatened, providing the ancient world's greatest example of national repentance and divine mercy toward Gentiles.