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.
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.
- BSB And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
- 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 Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
- Dan 9:3And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
- Matt 12:41The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
- Joel 2:12–17Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
- 2 Chr 20:3And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
- Joel 1:14Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.
- Exod 9:18–21Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
- Jer 36:9And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
- Heb 11:7By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
- Heb 11:1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
- Jer 31:34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
- Acts 8:10To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
- Acts 27:25Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
- Jer 42:8Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
- Ezra 8:21Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.
- Jer 42:1Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
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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.