1.
And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
the word of the Lord. See note on Jonah 1:1 .
The LORD . Hebrew. Jehovah , App-4 .
2.
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
the great city. Compare Jonah 1:1 , Jonah 1:2 ; Jonah 4:11 . Diodorus Siculus (cent. 1 B.C.), and Herodotus (cent. 4 B.C.), Jon 3:58 , both say it was about sixty miles in circuit and about twenty miles across. We must remember that such cities included large areas for cultivation and pasturage. Compare "much cattle", Jonah 4:11 .
preach = proclaim. Hebrew. kara = to cry aloud: as in verses: Jonah 3:4 , Jonah 3:5 , Jonah 3:8 ; Jonah 1:2 , Jonah 1:6 , Jonah 1:14 .
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.
three days, &c. i.e. in circuit.
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.
a = one cried. See note on "preach", Jonah 3:2 .
forty. The number of probation. See App-10 .
5.
So 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.
people = men. Hebrew pl of 'enosh . App-14 .
believed . Heb Aman . App-69 .
God. Hebrew. Elohim . App-4 .
proclaimed a fast. Professor Rawlings has shown just at this time Nineveh was in a time of trouble, and Assyrian history was "shrouded in darkness for forty years". Hope was given to all the neighbouring countries which were asserting their independence. This explains the readiness of Nineveh to hearken and obey, as was done on another occasion when the prophet of Nineveh declared it needful. (see Professor Sayce, The Higher Criticism and the Monuments, (pp 489, 490) by the Persians in a national trouble; in Greece, a fast which included cattle (Herodotus, ix. 24) and by Alexander the Great (Plutarch, Pelop && 33, 34). This decline of Nineveh gave hope to Israel: which hope had been encouraged by the prophet Jonah himself (2 Kings 14:25-27 ). This may have been the reason for Jonah's not wishing to avert the overthrow (Jonah 3:4 ) of Nineveh, by giving it the opportunity to repent and thus secure Jehovah's favour (Joel 2:14 ). We thus have veritable history, and not allegory.
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.
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:
nobles = great. ones.
man. Hebrew ' adam . App-14 .
herd nor flock. See note on "that great city", Jonah 3:2 , and "much cattle", Jonah 4:11 ,
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.
evil wicked. Hebrew. raa App-44 .
9.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Who can tell . . ? Compare "Who knoweth . . . ? 2 Samuel 12:22 .Joel 2:14 . Jonah, for one, thought Jehovah might to so. Hence his reluctance to give Nineveh the opportunity to repent.
if = [but that).
10.
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.
repented. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6 .
of = concerning