And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
Parallel translations
- WEB The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
- NASB Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
- NLT The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
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
The people of Nineveh believe God and respond with fasting and sackcloth. It matters because pagan Gentiles repent at one prophet's word, a striking example of saving faith.
Overview
That 'the people of Nineveh believed God' describes a genuine, widespread turning, from the greatest to the least. Their fasting and sackcloth express humble, public repentance before the God they had offended. Jesus later held up these Ninevites as witnesses against unbelieving Israel (Matthew 12:41), showing that faith and repentance, not heritage, mark God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Luke 11:32The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.
- Dan 9:3So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
- Matt 12:41The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.
- Joel 2:12–17“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
- 2 Chr 20:3Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
- Joel 1:14Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
- Exod 9:18–21Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now.
- Jer 36:9Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a fast before the LORD was proclaimed to all the people of Jerusalem and all who had come there from the cities of Judah.
- Heb 11:7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
- Heb 11:1Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.
- Jer 31:34No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”
- Acts 8:10and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, “This man is the divine power called the Great Power.”
- Acts 27:25So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as He told me.
- Jer 42:8and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.
- Ezra 8:21And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
- Jer 42:1Then all the commanders of the forces, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:5 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.