Pentecost Season · Proper 20 · Year A
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
September 20, 2026
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 3:10-4:11 Working Preacher
Luther Seminary exegesis on Jonah's resentment and God's final question.
CEP: Jonah 1-4 Center for Excellence in Preaching
Reformed preaching commentary on the whole book, including Jonah's anger in chapter 4.
Enduring Word: Jonah 3 Enduring Word · David Guzik
David Guzik's verse-by-verse evangelical notes leading into Jonah's complaint.
Precept Austin: Jonah 3 Commentary Precept Austin
Verse-level study helps, Hebrew word notes, and gathered quotations.
BibleHub: Jonah 3:10 Commentaries BibleHub
Aggregated classic commentaries on Nineveh's repentance and God's relenting.
Background & Word Study
Sefaria: Jonah 3 (Hebrew) Sefaria
Hebrew text with English and classical Jewish commentary on the passage.
BibleHub Interlinear: Jonah 3:10 BibleHub
Hebrew text with parsing for God's relenting and Jonah's displeasure.
Enter the Bible: Jonah Enter the Bible
Luther Seminary background on the book of Jonah and its message of mercy.
The Church Fathers
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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