Epiphany Season · Third Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year B
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
January 24, 2027
Overview & Insights
“Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people?” (Jonah 4:11)
Though undeserving, Jonah has been delivered from death by God’s merciful working through a fish. The book of Jonah is, before all else, a lesson concerning God’s free grace. But it is also a portrayal of God’s incredible patience. As Jonah confesses in 4:2, Yahweh is a God who is “slow to anger,” and it is amazing that God says nothing to Jonah in 3:1–2 by way of rebuke or admonition. Instead, God simply calls Jonah again, using the same words that he used in 1:1: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city . . .” (RSV).
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Commentary
Commentary on Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Working Preacher
Luther Seminary reading of God's second call and Nineveh's surprising repentance.
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching
Reformed treatment of Jonah as a moral tale that stretches our view of God's mercy.
Jonah 3 (Enduring Word Bible Commentary) Enduring Word · David Guzik
Verse-by-verse evangelical study of the renewed commission and Nineveh's fast.
Jonah 3 Commentary Precept Austin
Deep verse-by-verse notes gathering many conservative commentators on Jonah 3.
Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B (Agape Bible Study) Agape Bible Study
Catholic study explaining Jonah's reluctant mission to the Gentile Assyrians of Nineveh.
Background & Word Study
Jonah 3 (Hebrew text and commentaries) Sefaria
Hebrew text of Jonah 3 with classical Jewish commentary and translation tools.
Jonah 3:1 Interlinear BibleHub
Hebrew interlinear for word study of the word of the Lord coming a second time.
Book of Jonah Overview BibleProject
Animated overview of Jonah's design and its theme of God's mercy to enemies.
Questions preachers ask
Why is Jonah angry?
After Nineveh repents and God relents, Jonah sulks and would rather die than see his enemies spared (Jonah 4). God appoints a plant to shade him and a worm to wither it, then asks whether he should not pity a city of a hundred and twenty thousand. It is Scripture’s sharpest lesson on mercy reaching beyond our borders, paired here with the parable of the generous vineyard owner.
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