“Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”
The full verse · Jonah 3:9 · KJV
Who can if will and , and turn from his , that we not?
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The Scene
After Jonah cried through Nineveh, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," the king left his throne for sackcloth (rough cloth worn in mourning) and ashes and sent out a decree with his nobles (Jonah 3:4-8).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionThe king was hoping for mercy without any promise of it. Jonah's message gave a deadline but no offer of mercy (Jonah 3:4). The king had just ordered a fast for man and beast, a cry to God, and a turning from "the violence that is in their hands" (Jonah 3:7-8). His question gives the reason: maybe God will turn too. Gill says the king speaks "between hope and fear," not in flat doubt, and rests their hope of not perishing on God's mercy rather than on their fasting. Matthew Henry notes that they repented without the certainty of pardon that later believers have.
The Response
What Scripture recordsGod answered with what He did. "God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not" (Jonah 3:10). The king's "who can tell" was met with mercy. But the next verse shows that this mercy "displeased Jonah exceedingly" (Jonah 4:1).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsThe king's words echo earlier Scripture. Keil & Delitzsch point out that his words "turn and repent" are the same as in Joel 2:14, and that "fierce anger" echoes Exodus 32:12. The verb "repent" is the Hebrew nacham, which properly means to sigh, and by implication to be sorry, to pity, or to relent. "Turn" is shub, used twice in this verse: the king hopes God will turn back and turn away from "the burning of His anger" (charon). Keil & Delitzsch also note that making even the animals share in public mourning matches ancient custom.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyA pagan king, one who did not worship the LORD, hoped in a God he barely knew, and the text shows that his hope was not misplaced. God "saw their works" and spared the city (Jonah 3:10). The same God who had warned, "Yet forty days," was ready to relent when people turned from evil.
The king did not know what Jonah knew. Jonah could quote that God is "gracious" and "merciful" and "repentest thee of the evil" (Jonah 4:2). The king only had "who can tell." Yet the man with less knowledge responded with more humility. Jesus later held up these same Ninevites as a witness, because "they repented at the preaching of Jonas" (Matthew 12:41). Jonas is the Greek form of Jonah's name.
Look Closer
What did the king of Nineveh base his hope on?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord, when I turn to You without knowing how it will end, what do You want me to understand about Your mercy?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- The king turned to God with only "who can tell" to hold on to. What makes it hard for you to come to God when you are not sure how He will answer?
- When have you seen someone you did not expect turn toward God? How did it change the way you see His mercy?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
The Ninevites did not wait for a guarantee before they turned. They cried to God and changed how they lived (Jonah 3:8). Matthew Henry calls the hope of mercy "the great encouragement to repentance." You have more reason for that hope than the king of Nineveh did, because God has made His mercy known.
Repentance here was not only outward. Sackcloth and fasting came with turning from evil and violence (Jonah 3:8, 10). And the king never assumed God owed them mercy. He hoped in God, not in the fast itself, as Gill notes. Turn honestly, and leave the outcome with God. Scripture's own application: Matthew 12:41
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
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