“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
- KJV Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
- NKJV “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
- NASB “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, because their wickedness has come up before Me.”
- NLT “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God commands Jonah to preach against Nineveh because its wickedness has reached His attention. It matters because God holds even pagan nations accountable and yet sends a warning rather than immediate judgment.
Overview
Nineveh was the great capital of Assyria, Israel's cruel and feared enemy, so this commission was deeply offensive to a patriotic Hebrew prophet. That God notices Nineveh's sin and sends a preacher shows His sovereignty over all peoples and His desire that the wicked turn and live (Ezekiel 18:23). The mission anticipates the gospel going to the nations, for in Christ God calls all peoples to repentance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Gen 18:20–21Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Gen 10:11From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
- Isa 58:1“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
- Nah 1:1This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
- Jonah 4:11So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”
- Zeph 2:13–15And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
- Jonah 3:2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
- Jer 1:7–10But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak.
- Ezek 3:5–9For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—
- Rev 18:5For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- 2 Kgs 19:36So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
- Ezek 2:7But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.
- Ezra 9:6and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.
- Mic 3:8As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
- Jas 5:4Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Matt 10:18On My account, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
- Nah 2:1–3One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Three days in the belly of the fish is the sign Jesus gave of his own death and resurrection (Matt 12:40); and God's mercy on pagan Nineveh foreshadows the gospel going to the nations.
How Jonah 1:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.