Jonah 1:2

"I have seen how wicked are the people who live in the great city called Nineveh. Therefore, go there and warn the people that I am planning to destroy their city because they d sinned." *One day* Yahweh said to the *prophet *Jonah, Amittai’s son OR *There was a prophet in Israel named* Jonah who was Amittai's son. *One day* Yahweh said to him: *One day* Yahweh said to the *prophet *Jonah, Amittai’s son Use words that will indicate that this is a real, historical story. Do not use words that might communicate that this is a folk tale, a fake story or a myth. the great city called Nineveh OR the large/important city called Nineveh* in the Assyria kingdom* the great city called Nineveh Jonah 3:1

Jonah (Easy-to-Translate)

In The King James Version

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

In Context

1One day Yahweh said to the prophet Jonah, Amittai's son,

3But Jonah did not go to Nineveh. Instead, he went in the direction opposite to where Yahweh told him to go. He went (down) to Joppa city. There he paid the fare to travel on a ship that was going to Tarshish city. Jonah wanted to escape from Yahweh and avoid doing what Yahweh had told him to do. He got on the ship, and then he went down to a lower deck inside the ship. He lay down, and went to sleep. went (down) OR went OR traveled went (down) Jonah had to travel from a high elevation (Jerusalem city) down to Joppa city which was a low elevation. Joppa was at sea level where a ship could be docked.The repeated “down” communicates that Jonah is going down from Yahweh’s exalted/”up” position.

Read all of Jonah 1

Cross References

Jonah 3:3So, this time Jonah obeyed Yahweh, and he went to Nineveh. That city was so big that a person had to walk for three days to go everywhere in it. a person had to walk for three days to go everywhere in it OR it took three days to walk through it OR it took three days for a person to visit/see it all a person had to walk for three days to go everywhere in it The walls surrounding Nineveh extended five kilometers around, so a person could walk around the city in a few hours. Jonah’s three-day walk likely refers to walking about inside the city. The number three is important to retain in this story.

Matthew Henry on Jonah 1:2-4

Jonah This book of Jonah, though it be placed here in the midst of the prophetical books of scripture, is yet rather a history than a prophecy; one line of prediction there is in it, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown; the rest of the book is a narrative of the preface to and the consequences of that prediction. In the midst of the obscure prophecies before and after this book, wherein are many things dark and hard to be understood, which are puzzling to the learned, and are strong meat for strong… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Jonah 1:2