Jonah 3:5 BSB — MannaFest

Jonah 3:5

And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

KJV

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

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Commentary

4 voices

Ambrose of Milan

Letters, Letter 44 (397)

If what the Apostle has said is not enough, let them hear the Prophet saying, I chastened myself with fasting. He therefore who fasts not is uncovered and naked and exposed to wounds. And if Adam had clothed himself with fasting he would not have been found to be naked. Nineveh delivered itself from death by fasting. And the Lord Himself says, This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

So the people of Nineveh believed God,.... Or "in God" (r): in the word of the Lord, as the Targum; they believed there was a God, and that he, in whose name Jonah came, was the true God; they believed the word the prophet spake was not the word of man, but, the word of God; faith came by hearing the word, which is the spring of true repentance, and the root of all good works. Kimchi and R.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The wearing of sackcloth, especially to those who were used to fine linen, was a very uneasy thing, and they would not have done it if they had not had a deep sense of their sin and their danger by reason of sin, which hereby they designed to express.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

And the people of Nineveh believed God; - strictly, “believed in God.” To “believe in God” expresses more heart-belief, than to “believe God” in itself need convey. To believe God is to believe what God says, to be true; “to believe in” or “on God” expresses not belief only, but that belief resting in God, trusting itself and all its concerns with Him. It combines hope and trust with faith, and love too, since, without love, there cannot be trust.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

11 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַֽיַּאֲמִ֛ינוּ	vai.ya.'a.Mi.nu	and they believed	H539 →
אַנְשֵׁ֥י	'an.Shei	[the] people of	H582 →
נִֽינְוֵ֖ה	nin.Veh	Nineveh	H5210 →
בֵּֽאלֹהִ֑ים	be.lo.Him	in God	H430 →
וַיִּקְרְאוּ־	vai.yik.re.'u-	and they proclaimed	H7121 →
צוֹם֙	tzOm	a fast	H6685 →
וַיִּלְבְּשׁ֣וּ	vai.yil.be.Shu	and they wore	H3847 →
שַׂקִּ֔ים	sa.Kim	sackcloth<s>	H8242 →
מִגְּדוֹלָ֖ם	mi.ge.do.Lam	from great their	H1419 →
וְעַד־	ve.'ad-	and unto	H5704 →
קְטַנָּֽם׃	ke.ta.Nam	insignificant their	H6996 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Daniel 9:3
So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
leads to
- Jeremiah 29:10–13
  For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.
- Jeremiah 33:3
  Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
- James 5:16–18
  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Nehemiah 1:4–11
  When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
- Esther 4:16
  “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast…
Through
Joel 1:14
Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
leads to
- Joel 2:15–16
  Blow the ram’s horn in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a sacred assembly.
- Jonah 3:8
  Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.
Through
Matthew 12:41
The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.
leads to
- Matthew 12:42
  The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One…

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About Jonah

Jonah Preaches to the Ninevites — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Jonah: the study guide →Read chapter 3 →The featured study →

Continue: Jonah 3 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Jonah

Where the connections lead

The record, by era

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Jonah