Jonah 1:2
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Mission of Jonah to Nineveh His Flight and Punishment - Jonah 1 Jonah tries to avoid fulfilling the command of God, to preach repentance to the great city Nineveh, by a rapid flight to the sea, for the purpose of sailing to Tarshish (Jon 1:1-3); but a terrible storm, which threatens to destroy the ship, brings his sin to light (Jon 1:4-10); and when the lot singles him out as the culprit, he confesses that he is guilty; and in accordance with the sentence which he pronounces upon himself, is cast into the sea (Jon 1:11-16).
Open source ↗In this chapter we have, I. A command given to Jonah to preach at Nineveh (Jon 1:1, Jon 1:2). II. Jonah's disobedience to that command (Jon 1:3). III. The pursuit and arrest of him for that disobedience by a storm, in which he was asleep (Jon 1:4-6). IV. The discovery of him, and his disobedience, to be the cause of the storm (Jon 1:7-10). V. The casting of him into the sea, for the stilling of the storm (Jon 1:11-16). VI. The miraculous preservation of his life there in the belly of a fish (Jon 1:17), which was his reservation for further services.
Open source ↗1:2 By Jonah’s day, Nineveh already had quite a long history (see Gen 10:12). It was a key city in the Assyrian Empire until its destruction in 612 BC (see Nah 1–3). Nineveh’s ruins are located across the Tigris River from the modern city of Mosul, Iraq. • great city: See study note on 3:3.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
“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.
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
So 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?”
For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
and 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.
As 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.
But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.