A Warning Cry in the City
Archdeacon Harrison. Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. It was a great and wonderful thing that was wrought that day when Jonah "began to enter into the city." The great capital was suddenly startled by a voice of warning in her streets. A strange, wild man, clothed in a rough garment of skin, moved from place to place, and announced to the inhabitants their coming doom. Had the cry fallen on them in their prosperous time, it would probably have been heard with apathy and ridicule. But coming as it did when their glory had declined; when their enemies, having been allowed a breathing space, had taken courage, and were acting on the offensive in many quarters, it struck them with fear and consternation. It was a single day, apparently, that was marked by such wonders in the city of Nineveh. The prophet's "one day's journey" is supposed to have carried him about nineteen miles. The repentance of the men of Nineveh prolonged, in God's mercy and providence, the continuance of their city for more than a hundred years. (Archdeacon Harrison.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. WEB: Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried out, and said, "In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!"