Catholic Commentary on Jonah 3

“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” (Jonah 3:10)

Nineveh Repents

The word of the LORD comes to Jonah a second time: go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you. Jonah obeys. He enters the city and proclaims: forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. The Ninevites believe God. A fast is proclaimed and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah's warning reaches the king of Nineveh, he rises from his throne, takes off his royal robes, covers himself with sackcloth and sits down in the dust. He issues a decree: let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

The Catechism identifies the repentance of Nineveh as the most dramatic example of communal conversion in the Old Testament, cited by Jesus as the sign that will judge the generation that refuses to repent (CCC 1431).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, when God saw what they did, he relented. The repentance was not a feeling; it was an action: they turned from their evil ways and their violence. God saw what they did. Not what they felt or intended. The repentance that moves God is the repentance that changes behaviour. From the king on his throne to the animals in their stalls, Nineveh turned. One of the greatest revivals in history came from five words: forty more days and overthrown.

Prayer

Lord God, give us the repentance of Nineveh: from the greatest to the least, turning from evil ways and violence. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

3
The Ninevites Repent
(Matthew 12:38-42; Luke 11:29-32)
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
 
3 This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD.
 
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,* 3:3 Or was a great city to God requiring a three-day journey.† 3:3 Literally great city, a three-day journey 4 On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
 
5 And the Ninevites believed God. 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, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
 
7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:
 
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
 
Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink. 8 Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
 
10 When God saw their actions-that they had turned from their evil ways-He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

*3:3 3:3 Or was a great city to God

†3:3 3:3 Literally great city, a three-day journey

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