Jonah 3:9

Perhaps, if everyone does so, then God may change his mind and be merciful to us. Maybe God will stop being very angry with us, with the result that we will not die."

Jonah (Easy-to-Translate)

In The King James Version

Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

In Context

8Instead, every person must put on old/rough cloth. Put old/rough cloth on your animals, too. Then everyone must pray fervently to God. And everyone must stop doing evil actions/things, and stop acting violently toward others.

10When they all did that, God saw what they were doing, and he saw that they had stopped doing evil things. So, he pitied them, and he did not destroy them as he had threatened to do.

Read all of Jonah 3

Cross References

Jonah 1:6Then the captain went down to where Jonah was sleeping deeply. He awoke him and said to him. "You should not be sleeping during a storm like this one! Get up and pray to your god! Perhaps he will pity us and save us, so that we will not drown!"

Jonah 4:2So, Jonah complained to Yahweh, saying: "O Yahweh, what you have done is what I thought that you would do, before I left home. That is why I decided immediately to run away, and go to Tarshish city. I did so because I knew that you, O God, act very kindly and compassionate toward all people. You do not quickly become angry with people who do evil things. You love people very much, and you change your mind about punishing sinful people when they repent. complained OR prayed [with bitterness] You love people very much OR You keep your promises to people You love people very much The Hebrew word *khesed *remains the foremost characteristic for God, meaning covenant loyalty. The Greek equivalent is “faithful(ness)”. you, O God, act very kindly and compassionate *toward all people*. You do not quickly become angry with people who do evil things. You love people very much, and you change your mind about punishing *sinful people when they repent*. Exodus 34:6; Jeremiah 18:1-11 you, O God, act very kindly and compassionate *toward all people*. You do not quickly become angry with people who do evil things. You love people very much, and you change your mind about punishing *sinful people when they repent*. Jonah is summarizing a passage about Yahweh that is repeated very often throughout Scripture. allow me to die OR kill me now It is not right/good for you to be angry about my not destroying the city OR Is it right for you to be angry about my not destroying the city? It is not right/good for you to be angry about my not destroying the city In Hebrew, this is a rhetorical question, not a real question. You may translate it either as a strong statement, or as a rhetorical question that is designed to make the listener/reader think.

Matthew Henry on Jonah 3:6-10

Nineveh's Repentance. ( b. c. 840.) 5 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. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not… Read the whole commentary →

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