Epiphany Season · Third Sunday after the Epiphany · 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
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Working Preacher
On Jonah's reluctant second call and Nineveh's outsized repentance, with attention to God relenting.
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Center for Excellence in Preaching
On the half-hearted prophet whose short message still takes hold by God's doing.
Jonah 3:1-5 Enduring Word · David Guzik
An accessible verse-by-verse commentary, widely used across evangelical churches.
Background & Word Study
Summary of Jonah Enter the Bible
A summary that orients the reader to the book's satire and mercy theme behind chapter 3.
Jonah 3 in Hebrew, with Jewish commentary Sefaria
The Hebrew and English of Jonah 3 with classical Jewish commentaries.
Overview: Jonah BibleProject
An animated overview framing chapter 3's repentance within the book's argument about God's compassion.
The Church Fathers
Sermons & Reflections
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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