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Pentecost Season · Proper 20 · Year A

Jonah 3:10-4:11

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

September 20, 2026

Jonah beneath the Gourd, Per Persson
Jonah beneath the Gourd, Per Persson, 1819Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
A Swedish painted wall hanging: Jonah sits under a great flowering plant outside a city of blue and orange towers, and the heading reads, the prophet Jonah sits under the gourd and shades himself from the heat of the sun.Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head.Per PerssonA Swedish country painter who decorated farmhouse walls with painted hangings of Bible stories, dressing the prophets in the coats and tricorns of his own day.Nationalmuseum, StockholmThe Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden’s national collection of art and design.Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelMatt. 20:1-16Mt 20:1-16
EpistlePhil. 1:21-30Phil 1:21-30
Old TestamentExod. 16:2-15Ex 16:2-15Alt. OTJonah 3:10-4:11Jon 3:10-4:11
PsalterPs. 105:1-6, 37-45Ps 105:1-6, 37-45Alt. PsalmPs. 145:1-8Ps 145:1-8

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

Working Preacher: Jonah 3:10-4:11Working Preacher: Jon 3:10-4:11 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary exegesis on Jonah's resentment and God's final question.

CEP: Jonah 1-4CEP: Jon 1-4 Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on the whole book, including Jonah's anger in chapter 4.

Enduring Word: Jonah 3Enduring Word: Jon 3 Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse-by-verse evangelical notes leading into Jonah's complaint.

Precept Austin: Jonah 3 CommentaryPrecept Austin: Jon 3 Commentary Precept Austin

Verse-level study helps, Hebrew word notes, and gathered quotations.

BibleHub: Jonah 3:10 CommentariesBibleHub: Jon 3:10 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries on Nineveh's repentance and God's relenting.

Background & Word Study

Sefaria: Jonah 3 (Hebrew)Sefaria: Jon 3 (Hebrew) Sefaria

Hebrew text with English and classical Jewish commentary on the passage.

BibleHub Interlinear: Jonah 3:10BibleHub Interlinear: Jon 3:10 BibleHub

Hebrew text with parsing for God's relenting and Jonah's displeasure.

The Church Fathers

Catena: Jonah 4Catena: Jon 4 Catena

Patristic comment chain gathering the Fathers on Jonah's anger and the plant.

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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