(a) Narrate Jonah's message to the Ninevites and their response to it. (b) State two lessons that could be drawn from this story.

Answer Details

(a) Jonah's message to the Ninevites and their response (Jonah 3)

• After Jonah was delivered from the great fish, the word of the Lord came to him a second time, commanding him to go to Nineveh and proclaim the message God gave him.
• Jonah obeyed and went into the great city, which was a three days' journey in breadth.
• He began by going a day's journey in, and proclaimed: Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
• The people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
• When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
• The king issued a decree that neither man nor beast should eat or drink, that all should be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God, and that everyone should turn from his evil way and from the violence in his hands.
• He hoped that God might turn and relent so that they would not perish.
• When God saw their works and that they turned from their evil way, He relented of the disaster He had said He would bring, and He did not destroy them.

(b) Two lessons that could be drawn from this story

1. God is merciful and ready to forgive those who truly repent. When the Ninevites turned from their sins, God spared them, showing that sincere repentance brings pardon.
2. Genuine repentance must lead to a change of conduct. The Ninevites not only fasted and prayed but turned from their evil ways and violence, proving that true repentance is shown in action.