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英文原文
In this chapter we have, I. Jonah's mission renewed, and the command a second time given him to go preach at Nineveh, Jon 3:1,2. II. Jonah's message to Nineveh faithfully delivered, by which its speedy overthrow was threatened, Jon 3:3,4. III. The repentance, humiliation, and reformation of the Ninevites hereupon, Jon 3:5-9. IV. God's gracious revocation of the sentence passed upon them, and the preventing of the ruin threatened, Jon 3:10.
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Jonah's Mission Renewed; The Prophet's Mission to Nineveh (840 BC)
约拿的使命重新设立；先知赴尼尼微的使命（主前 840 年）
¹ 耶和华的话二次临到约拿，说： ² 你起来！往尼尼微大城去，向其中的居民宣告我所吩咐你的话。 ³ 约拿便照耶和华的话起来，往尼尼微去。这尼尼微是极大的城，有三日的路程。 ⁴ 约拿进城走了一日，宣告说：再等四十日，尼尼微必倾覆了。
此处我们进一步看见神与约拿之间的和好，且是彻底的和好——尽管他们之间的争辩一度激烈。
I. 约拿的使命重新设立，并立即得着顺服。
1. 由此显明神已完全与约拿和好——他再度任用他事奉；而重新赋予他的使命，便是他从前悖逆得蒙赦免的明证。在人之间，给已被定罪的罪犯委以使命，正等于赦免——此理已公正地被主张；照样对约拿也是如此。耶和华的话二次临到约拿（拿3:1）；因为：（一）约拿必须受试验，看他是否确实为从前的悖逆悔改，是否从他奇特的刑罚与奇特的拯救中得了所定的益处。他曾擅离职守、废弃本分，因此曾被拘留，曾在自己身上受了死的判决；但他一顺服，神便释放他，赐他性命、赐他自由；然而这释放是以他此后守规矩为条件的，他必须再度受试——看他是否随神的旨意，还是随自己的私意。在他被抛入海中、又被吐出之后，神来问他："约拿，你现在肯往尼尼微去吗？"因为神审判之时必得胜，必达到目的；他终必使那悖逆顽梗的孩子归到他的脚下。注意，当神管教了我们、又救我们脱离管教之时，我们必须听他的声音对我们说：如今回到你们从前所忽略的、如今这些护理所召你们尽的本分。神如今实际上对约拿说，正如基督对那蒙医治的瘫子所说："如今去吧，从此不要再犯罪，恐怕你遭遇的更加利害（约5:14）——比在鱼腹中三天三夜更加利害。"神在管教人、又救人脱离其苦难之后，要观看他们是否改正——尤其是那因之受罚的过失；所以在这事上我们有责任留意，不可徒受神的恩——无论是管教之恩还是拯救之恩，因为两者都设计为恩典的途径。（二）约拿将再度受信任，作为神施恩于他的记号。神本可公义地论约拿说——正如我们论那曾欺骗我们、背叛我们的人——虽然我们不按律法的严酷待他、不毁灭他，却永不再信任他；约拿所抵挡所背叛的预言之灵，本可公义地离开他、决不再回到他那里。人本会以为，约拿虽保住性命，却必永远丧失作为先知事奉神国的资格与能力。然而看哪！耶和华的话又临到他——这表明当神赦免之时便忘记，他所赦免的人，他便赐以新心新灵；他将那些曾是浪子、曾是不顺服之仆人的人，再接纳回家，恢复其先前的地位。注意，神使用我们，便是他与我们和好的最佳明证。我们的罪既已赦免、我们既已蒙神善待，便由此显明：他的善言既临到我们，他的善工既在我们心中运行——我们便有理由赞叹那白白恩典的丰盛，并承认我们亏欠主耶稣——他为人受了恩赐，就是悖逆的也受了，叫主神可以住在他们中间，并用他们传他的道（诗68:18）。
2. 由此显明约拿已与神和好——他如今不再像从前那样违背天上的异象，不再如他所曾行的躲避耶和华的面。他既不设法回避听见命令，也不推辞顺服；他没有提出从前的异议：路途遥远、差使招怨、传达危险——若所警告的审判真来到，他必被讥为假先知，自己国民的不悔改也必被引为口实——这些他曾提过（拿4:2）。但如今，他毫无怨言、毫无辩驳地，约拿便照耶和华的话起来，往尼尼微去（拿3:3）。在此看见：（一）悔改之性——它是我们心意与道路的改变，是我们归回所偏离的工与本分；它是去行我们曾留下的未作之善。（二）苦难之益——它将擅离职守的人引回本位。约拿可以真切地与大卫同说：我未受苦以先走迷了路，现在却遵守你的话；所以，虽然苦难可怕、虽然于我痛苦、虽然当下不觉得喜乐，反觉得愁苦，然而我受苦是与我有益——甚为有益。（三）看见神圣恩典与苦难同工的大能——否则苦难本身反会将人驱离神，而非引到神前；但神藉着他的恩典能将悖逆的人转到义人的智慧中，能在他掌权的日子使那些颈项如铁筋的人甘心乐意地负他的轭。（四）看见凡耶和华的话所临之人当尽的本分——他们必须在各点上顺服那话，对神所发的命令献上欢欣忠实的顺服。约拿起来——没有因懒惰或愠怒而坐视不理；他径直前往尼尼微，虽路途遥远、虽可能是他素未到过之地；然而他照耶和华的话往那里去。神的仆人当往他所差之处去，当他所召之时来，做他所吩咐之事；凡显明是耶和华之话的，我们都当谨守遵行。
II. 现在让我们看他所受的命令或使命如何，以及他执行时作了什么。
1. 他被差遣，如传令的使者，奉天上的神之名，向尼尼微宣告战争（拿3:2）："起来，往尼尼微大城去"——那京城——向其中的居民宣告，亚兰文译作"向它宣告祸患"。所宣告反对我们的话，乃是对我们说的，好叫我们听见而受警戒；而对我们所说的话，我们若不听、不凭信而和，最终便必反对我们。约拿被差往尼尼微——此时是外邦世界的首要之城——这表明神恩惠的旨意，在时日的过程中要将神圣启示之光照入那些黑暗之区。神晓得所多玛、蛾摩拉、推罗、西顿若曾得着恩典之途，必已悔改，却仍不给他们那些途径（太11:21,23）。他知道尼尼微如今若得恩典之途必将悔改，便给他们那些途径——差遣约拿；虽非明言向他们传悔改（因为我们未见他有此使命），却是传他们以致悔改——因为那是他使命中所言之内容的美好效果。神若在分赐恩惠之时——将恩典之途给此地不给那地、将恩典之灵给此人不给那人——凭特权、凭主权而行，谁能对他说：你作什么呢？他不能随自己的意思用他自己的吗？ 他不欠任何人。去吧，传（神说）我所吩咐你的话。即：（一）"我从前初次命你前往时（拿1:2）所吩咐的话——去，向其中呼喊；向它宣告神圣的审判；告诉尼尼微人他们的恶已上达于神，神的报应将临到他们。"这正是约拿从前极不愿传的信息，因此脱逃往他施去；但当他第二次被带到这使命前，神并不为迁就他而丝毫更改信息，或使它更易为他接受；不，他如今必须传的，正是他从前所受命而不肯传的同一信息。注意，神的话是不可更改之事，既不屈就传道人的脾性，也不屈就听道人的脾性；它绝不迁就他们的喜好与想象，他们却必须迁就它的真理与法则。参耶15:19：他们若归向你，你却不可归向他们。 或（二）"你到了那里我所要吩咐的话。"这是对他此行的鼓励——神必与他同去，预言之灵必住在他身上，当他到尼尼微之时必随时赐他一切所需的进一步指示。这暗示他还将再听见神的话——这将是他在此危险远征中的极大支持；正如神差亚伯拉罕献以撒之时，给了他类似的暗示——告诉他必须在他以后所要指示的一座山上献祭。义人的脚步被耶和华立定；他一步一步地引导他的百姓，也盼望他们如此跟随。约拿必须怀着不信自己的信心前去。他虽知往何处去，却不知到了之后要传什么信息——但无论是什么，他都必传，无论是悦人还是逆耳。如此神要我们不断倚赖他自己，倚赖他话语与护理的引导。他所行的、他所要我们行的，我们如今不知道，但后来必明白。海军上将有时奉派出洋，必须开到海上多少里格之外才可拆开委任状；照样约拿必须往尼尼微去，到了那里才被告知当说什么。
III. 他忠信而勇敢地传达了他的使命。他到了尼尼微，发现他的教区甚大——这是一座极大的城，有三日的路程（拿3:3）；希伯来文作"属神的大城"——意不过如我们所译的极大；这种语言对伟大的神如此致敬，以至伟大的事物从他得名。尼尼微的伟大主要在其幅员；它比巴比伦大得多——据 Diodorus Siculus 所言，是无人以后所能建造之城。它长一百五十弗隆、宽九十弗隆，周围四百八十弗隆；城墙高一百呎，厚到可容三辆战车并行；其上有塔一千五百座，各高二百呎。此处说为三日路程；因为城墙周围，据有人所述，为四百八十弗隆，以八弗隆为一英里计，合六十英里，对一个步行者而言——每日二十英里——可恰当地算为三日路程。或者，约拿巡回传道时须缓慢庄重地行走，至少需三日才能走遍全城的主要街巷宣告他的信息，使人人得闻。他到了那里便不失时机；他不是来观光的，而是紧紧投身于他的工；当他开始进入城内，他并未退入客栈以解旅途之劳，而是立即按其所受的指示拆开使命，宣告说：再等四十日，尼尼微必倾覆了。 这无疑是他有特别授权与指示而说的；他是否以此为题加以发挥——向他们说明神与他们的争辩，他们的恶何其惹动怒气，他们有何理由预期毁灭、当信从这警告——如最可能的那样；或他只是反复重申这些话——我们不能确定；但这便是他信息的要旨。第一，他必须告诉他们这大城必倾覆；他的意思——他们也如此领会——是它将倾覆，不是因战争，而是因天上直接的击打，或是地震，或是如所多玛那样的火与硫磺。城市的罪恶使之熟于毁灭，其财富与强大不能在罪孽满盈、报应之期已到之时保护它免于毁灭。大城当大神来与之算账之时易于倾覆。第二，他必须告诉他们它将速速倾覆——四十日之后。已赐予缓刑。神要如此等候，看看在警号响起之后他们是否自卑改行，从而避免所威胁的毁灭。看神向怒气何等迟缓——尼尼微的罪恶虽呼求报应，却要被宽待四十日，使其有悔改的余地，在神审判的路上迎见神。但他不再等候；若在那段时期内他们不转回，他们便必知道他已磨快他的刀，预备妥当。四十日对于公义的神推迟审判而言是长时间，但对于不义之民悔改改过、从而转回将临的审判而言，却只是少时。如此以最大的确定设定日子，将有助于使他们信服这是来自神的信息——因为无人敢如此肯定地定下时间，尽管他可对事情本身作预言；这也必惊动他们为此预备。这可公正地唤醒安逸的罪人——以真诚的归正防止自己的毁灭，当他们看见自己只有少时可回转。这岂不也当唤醒我们预备死——想到事情本身是确定的、时辰已在神的旨意中定下，但我们却蒙保守在黑暗与不确定之中，为要我们常常预备？我们不能如尼尼微此时确知它将存立四十日那样，确信自己将活四十日；不，我想我们三十或四十日内必死，比我们将活三十或四十年更为可能；然而在安逸之日我们却常向自己许下这许多年。
英文原文
Jonah's Mission Renewed; The Prophet's Mission to Nineveh (840 BC)
¹ And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
² Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
³ So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
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.
We have here a further evidence of the reconciliation between God and Jonah, and that it was a thorough reconciliation, though the controversy between them had run high.
I. Jonah's commission is renewed and readily obeyed.
1. By this it appears that God was perfectly reconciled to Jonah, that he employed him again in his service; and the commission anew given him was an evidence of the remission of his former disobedience. Among men, it has been justly pleaded that the giving of a commission to a criminal convicted is equivalent to a pardon, so it was to Jonah. The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time (Jon 3:1); for, 1. Jonah must be tried, whether he do indeed repent of his former disobedience or no, and whether he have gotten the good designed him both by his strange punishment and by his strange deliverance. He had deserted his work and duty, and had been under arrest for it, had received a sentence of death within himself; but, upon his submission, God had released him, had given him his life, had given him his liberty; but it is upon his good behaviour that he is released, and he must again be put upon the trial whether he will follow the will of God or his own will. After he has been thrown into the sea, and thrown out of it again, God comes and asks him, "Jonah, wilt thou go to Nineveh now?" For when God judges he will overcome, he will gain his point; he will bring the disobedient stubborn child to his foot at last. Note, When God has afflicted us, and delivered us out of affliction, we must hear his voice, saying to us, Now return to the duties which before you neglected, and which by these providences you are called to. God now said, in effect, to Jonah, as Christ said to the impotent man, when he had healed him, "Now go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (Joh 5:14), a worse thing than lying three days and three nights in the whale's belly." God looks upon men, when he has afflicted them and has delivered them out of their affliction, to see whether they will mend of that fault, particularly, for which they were corrected; and therefore in that thing we are concerned to see to it that we receive not the grace of God in vain, neither in the correction nor in the deliverance, for both are designed to be means of grace. (2.) Jonah shall be trusted, in token of God's favour to him. God might justly have said concerning Jonah, as we should concerning one that had cheated us and dealt treacherously with us, that though we would not proceed to the rigour of the law against him, nor ruin him, yet we would never again repose a confidence in him; justly might the Spirit of prophecy, which Jonah had resisted and rebelled against, depart from him, with a resolution never to return to him any more. One would have expected that though his life was spared, yet he would be laid under a disability and incapacity ever to serve the government again in the character of a prophet. But, behold! the word of the Lord comes to him again, to show that when God forgives he forgets, and whom he forgives he gives a new heart and a new spirit to; he receives those into his family again, and restores them to their former estate, that had been prodigal children and disobedient servants. Note, God's making use of us is the best evidence of his being at peace with us. Hereby it will appear that our sins are pardoned, and we have the good-will of God towards us; does his good word come unto us, and do we experience his good work in us! if so, we have reason to admire the riches of free grace and to own our obligations to the Lord Jesus, who received gifts for men, yea, even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell even among them, and employ them in his word, Ps 68:18.
2. By this it appears that Jonah was well reconciled to God, that he was not now, as he had been before, disobedient to the heavenly vision, did not flee from the presence of the Lord, as he had done. He neither endeavored to avoid hearing the command, nor did he decline obeying it; he made no objections, as he had done, that the journey was long, the errand invidious, the delivery of it perilous, and, if the threatened judgment did come, he should be reproached as a false prophet, and the impenitence of his own nation would be upbraided, which he had objected, Jon 4:2. But now, without murmuring and disputing, Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord, Jon 3:3. See here, (1.) The nature of repentance; it is the change of our mind and way, and a return to our work and duty, from which we had turned aside; it is doing that good which we had left undone. (2.) The benefit of affliction; it reduces those to their place that had deserted it. Jonah might truly say with David, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word; and therefore, though it was dreadful, though it was painful to me, and for the present not joyous, but grievous, yet it was good, very good, for me, that I was afflicted." (3.) See the power of divine grace working with affliction, for otherwise affliction of itself would rather drive men from God than bring them to him; but God by his grace can turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and make those willing in the day of his power, freely willing to come under his yoke, whose neck had been as an iron sinew. (4.) See the duty of all those to whom the word of the Lord comes; they must in all points conform themselves to it, and yield a cheerful faithful obedience to the orders God gives them. Jonah arose, and did not sit still in sloth or sullenness; he went directly to Nineveh, though it was a great way off, and a place where, it is likely, he never was before; yet thither he took his journey, according to the word of the Lord. God's servants must go where he sends them, come when he calls them, and do what he bids them; whatever appears to be the word of the Lord we must conscientiously do according to it.
II. Let us now see what was the command or commission given him, and what he did in prosecution of it.
1. He was sent as a herald at arms, in the name of the God of heaven, to proclaim war with Nineveh (Jon 3:2): "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city," that metropolis, and preach unto it, preach against it, so the Chaldee. What is against us is preached to us, that we may hear it and take warning; and what is preached to us, if we do not give ear to it, and mix faith with it, will prove to be against us. Jonah is sent to Nineveh, which was at this time the chief city of the Gentile world, as an indication of God's gracious intentions in process of time to make the light of divine revelation to shine in those dark regions. God knew that if Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon, had had the means of grace, they would have repented, and yet he denied them those means, Mt 11:21,23. He knew that if Nineveh had now the means of grace they would repent, and he gave them those means, sent Jonah, though not to preach repentance to them expressly (for we find not that he had that in his commission), yet to preach them to repentance, for that was the happy effect of what he had in commission. If God thus in dispensing his favours, in giving the means of grace to some places and not to others, and the spirit of grace to some persons and not to others, acts by prerogative and in a way of sovereignty, who may say unto him, What doest thou? May he not do what he will with his own? He is debtor to no man. Go, and preach (says God) the preaching that I bid thee. That is, (1.) "The preaching that I did bid thee when I first ordered thee to go thither (Jon 1:2); go, and cry against it; denounce divine judgments against it; tell the men of Nineveh that their wickedness has come up to God, and God's vengeance is coming down upon them." This was the message Jonah was then very loth to deliver, and therefore flew off and went to Tarshish; but, when he is brought to it the second time, God does not at all alter the message, to gratify him, or make it the more passable with him; no, he must now preach the very same that he was then ordered to preach and would not. Note, The word of God is an unalterable thing, and will not be made to bend to the humours either of its preachers or of its hearers; it shall never comply with their humours and fancies, but they must comply with its truths and laws. See Jer 15:19. Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them. Or, (2.) "The preaching that I shall bid thee when thou comest thither." This was an encouragement to him in his undertaking, that God would go along with him, that the Spirit of prophecy should abide upon him, and be ready to him, when he was at Nineveh, to give him all the further instructions that were needed for him. This intimated that he should hear from him again, which would be his great support in this hazardous expedition; as, when God sent Abraham to offer up Isaac, he gave him a similar intimation, by telling him he must do it upon one of the mountains which he would afterwards direct him to. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; he leads his people step by step, and so he expects they should follow him. Jonah must go with an implicit faith. Though he knows whither he goes, he shall not know, till he come thither, what message he must deliver, but, whatever it is, he must deliver it, be it pleasing or displeasing. Thus God will keep us in a continual dependence upon himself, and the directions of his word and providence. What he does, and what he will have us do, we know not now, but we shall know hereafter. Admirals, sometimes, when they are sent abroad, are not to open their commission till they have got so many leagues off at sea; so Jonah must go to Nineveh, and, when he comes there, shall be told what to say.
III. He faithfully and boldly delivered his errand. When he came to Nineveh he found his diocese large; it was an exceedingly great city of three days' journey (Jon 3:3); a city great to God, so the Hebrew phrase is, meaning no more than as we render it, exceedingly great; this honour that language does to the great God that great things derive their denomination from him. The greatness of Nineveh consisted chiefly in the extent of it; it was much larger than Babylon, such a city, says Diodorus Siculus, as no man ever after built. It was 150 furlongs long and 90 broad, and 480 in compass; the walls 100 feet high, and so thick that three chariots might go a-breast upon them; on them were 1500 towers, each of them 200 feet high. It is here said to be of three days' journey; for the compass of the walls, as some relate, was 480 furlongs, which, allowing eight furlongs to a mile, makes sixty miles, which may well be reckoned three days' journey for a footman, twenty miles a day. Or, walking slowly and gravely as Jonah must when he went about preaching, it would take him up at least three days to go through all the principal streets and lanes of the city, to proclaim his message, that all might have notice of it. When he came thither he lost no time; he did not come to look about him, but applied closely to his work; and, when he began to enter into the city, he did not retire into an inn, to refresh himself after his journey, but opened his commission immediately, according to his instructions, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. This, no doubt, he had particular warrant and direction to say; whether he enlarged upon this text, as is most probable, showing them the controversy God had with them, and how provoking their wickedness was, and what reason they had to expect destruction and give credit to this warning, or whether he only repeated those words again and again, is not certain, but this was the purport of his message. 1. He must tell them that this great city shall be overthrown; he meant, and they understood him, that it should be overthrown, not by war, but by some immediate stroke from heaven, either by an earthquake or by fire and brimstone as Sodom was. The wickedness of cities ripens them for destruction, and their wealth and greatness cannot protect them from destruction when the measure of their iniquity is full and the measure of their vengeance has come. Great cities are easily overthrown when the great God comes to reckon with them. 2. He must tell them that it shall shortly be overthrown, at the end of forty days. It has a reprieve granted. So long God will wait to see if, upon this alarm given, they will humble themselves and amend their doings, and so prevent the ruin threatened. See how slow God is to wrath; though Nineveh's wickedness cried for vengeance, yet it shall be spared for forty days, that it may have space to repent and meet God in the way of his judgments. But he will wait no longer; if in that time they turn not, they shall know that he has whet his sword, and made it ready. Forty days is a long time for a righteous God to defer his judgments, yet it is but a little time for an unrighteous people to repent and reform in, and so turn away the judgments coming. The fixing of the day thus, with all possible assurance, would help to convince them that it was a message from God, for no man durst be so positive in fixing a time, however he might prognosticate the thing itself; it would also startle them into preparation for it. It may justly awaken secure sinners by a sincere conversion to prevent their own ruin when they see they have but a little time to turn in. And should it not awaken us to get ready for death, to consider that the thing itself is certain, and the time fixed in the counsel of God, but that we are kept in the dark and uncertainty about it in order that we may be always ready? We cannot be so sure that we shall live forty days as Nineveh now was that it should stand forty days; nay, I think it is more probable that we shall die within thirty or forty days than we should live thirty or forty years; and so many years in the day of our security we are apt to promise ourselves.
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Nineveh's Repentance (840 BC)
尼尼微的悔改（主前 840 年）
⁵ 尼尼微人信服神，便宣告禁食，从最大的到至小的都穿麻衣。 ⁶ 这信息传到尼尼微王耳中，他就下了宝座，脱下朝服，披上麻布，坐在灰中。 ⁷ 他又使人遍告尼尼微，凭王和大臣的命令说：人、畜、牛、羊，都不可尝什么；也不可喝水，也不可吃草； ⁸ 人与牲畜都当披上麻布；人要切切求告神。各人回头离开所行的恶道，丢弃手中的强暴。 ⁹ 或者神转意不发烈怒，使我们不至灭亡，也未可知。 ¹⁰ 于是神察看他们的行为，见他们离开恶道，他就后悔，不把所说的灾祸降与他们了。
此处有：I. 神圣恩典在尼尼微之悔改与改过上的奇事——这发生在他们受毁灭将临之警告之后。我实在告诉你们，我们未曾见过如此大的实例，不，在以色列中也没有；它将在审判时起来定这福音世代人的罪；因为尼尼微人听了约拿所传的就悔改了；看哪，在这里有一人比约拿更大（太12:41）。不但如此，它当时就定了以色列的不悔改与顽梗为罪。神差许多先知到以色列，都是他们中间众所周知的说话行事有大能的；但往尼尼微他只差了一位，且是个陌生人，其仪表——我们可猜想——卑微，其肉身的外貌软弱，尤其在如此长途跋涉的劳顿之后；然而他们悔改了，以色列却不悔改。约拿只传了一篇道，我们未见他用什么神迹奇事来印证他的话；然而他们受了感动，以色列却仍顽梗——以色列的先知拣选用以与他们理论的话，又以随之的神迹加以印证。约拿只威胁忿怒与毁灭；我们未见他向他们发出悔改的呼召，或指明当如何悔改，更未给他们任何鼓励——盼望他们若悔改便可蒙怜悯；然而他们悔改了；以色列却坚持不悔改，虽然所差的先知以人的绳、爱的索吸引他们，并向他们保证：他们若悔改改过，神必为他们成就大事。如今让我们看尼尼微悔改的方法是什么，其步骤与具体表现如何。
1. 他们信服神——他们信了约拿奉神的名向他们所说的话：他们信了，虽然他们有许多称为神的，却只有一位又真又活的神，是统管万有的至高主；他们要向他交账；他们已经得罪了他，在他的公义之下成了可责之人；这所传给他们毁灭将临的通知是从他而来，因此毁灭本身也必从他而来——在所定的时辰，若不及时悔改便不能阻止；他是怜悯的神，他们若从招致忿怒的罪上转回，便可能有指望使所威胁的忿怒转消。注意，那到神面前来——在背离之后归回他——的人，必须信，必须信他存在，他是可与之和好的，他们若走当行的路，他必作他们的神。当注意神能以极小、极弱、极不可能的工具成就何等大的信心；他能仅凭几句威吓之言，使尼尼微人顺服真道。有人以为尼尼微人从水手或别人、或从约拿自己那里听见过他被抛入海中、又藉神迹被救出的事，这有助于印证他的使命，使他们更乐意相信藉他说话的神。但这一点我们没有确据。无论如何，基督的复活——约拿复活所预表的——印证了他的福音，并对那些奉他的名传悔改赦罪之道给万民，从耶路撒冷起之人的极大成功，大有贡献。
2. 他们将这话传给尼尼微王——有人以为此时是撒缦以色，有人以为是亚述王普勒。约拿并未受指示先去见他——尊重其王之尊严；戴冠冕的头，既是有罪的头，在神面前与寻常人的头同等，所以约拿不被差到宫廷，而是被差到尼尼微的街市上去宣告。无论如何，关于他使命的报告被送到尼尼微王那里——不是作为对约拿的告发，视他为扰乱公安者而当使之静默受罚——若他在耶路撒冷的街市上如此呼喊，也许便已如此行了，因为耶路撒冷杀了神的先知，又用石头打死奉差遣到她那里的人。不；报告被送给他，不是作为罪状，而是作为来自天上的信息——由一些关切公益、为之战兢的人所呈上。注意，那些君王有福——他们周围有人将关乎王国平安的事提醒他们，将神的话语与护理的警告、将他们所处神不悦的记号告诉他们；那些百姓也有福——他们上面有这样的君王，留意这些事。
3. 王为他们树立了自卑的好榜样（拿3:6）。他听见所传给他的神的话，就从宝座上下来——如摩押王伊矶伦，当以笏告诉他有神的信息要传给他时，便从座位上站起来。尼尼微王从宝座上下来——不仅是一般地对神的话表示敬意，更是特别地对震怒之言怀着恐惧，并为罪忧伤羞愧——因罪他与他的百姓已在他怒气之下成了可责之人。他从其王座上起来，脱去其朝服——皇室尊严的徽记——以此承认：他既未按所当行的使用权柄禁止强暴与冤屈、维护公义，他便已将其宝座与朝服失丧于神的公义，已使自己不配受作为君王所享的尊荣与所托的信重，神将国从他夺去也是公义的。连王自己也不以悔改者的装束为耻，因为他披上麻布，坐在灰中——作为他对罪自卑、对神圣报应畏惧的记号。最伟大的人在伟大的神面前自卑，极其相宜。
4. 百姓效法王的榜样，不，看来他们倒带头，因为他们已先开始穿麻衣，从最大的到至小的（拿3:5）。他们中最小的——在城倾覆中失丧最少的人——并不以为自己在这警号中无分；他们中最大的——素常安逸、讲究排场的人——也不以为自卑的记号有失身份。穿麻衣——尤其对那些素穿细软麻衣的人——是极不舒服的事；他们若非对自己因罪所处境况有深切感觉，便不会如此行——他们藉此表达这种处境。注意，不愿灭亡的人必须自卑，不愿毁灭灵魂的人必须刻苦己心；当神的审判威胁我们之时，我们必须在他大能的手下自卑；虽然单凭身体操练无益，人若在身下铺麻布与灰——若仅止于此——不过是戏耍（神所看的是心，赛58:5），但在严肃的自卑之日，当神的护理呼唤悲哀、束上麻布之时，我们必须以内心忧愁的外在表现用身体荣耀神——至少卸下其饰物。
5. 在那大城中颁布并遵守了全国性的禁食（拿3:7-9）。这是凭王和大臣的命令而颁布的；全部立法权参与其颁布，全民参与其遵守，两方面都使它成为全国的举动；当要防止全国的毁灭时，确需如此。此处我们有这公告的内容，甚为可观看。请看——
（一）这命令所要求的。[一] 禁食（严格意义上的）当极严紧地遵守。在所定为这严肃之礼的日子，人、畜都不可尝什么；不可取丝毫的滋养，不，连水也不可喝；不可借口说不能如此长久禁食而不损害健康，或不能忍受；让他们试一次。即便他们觉得不适、甚至此后一段时间受影响，又何妨？比起在拯救一座下沉之城所必需的悔改的任何举动或表现上有所缺欠，忍受这些岂不更好？让他们以穿麻布使身体不适，正如以禁食，以表明他们因罪的忧愁、因神震怒的恐惧而在心中何等不安。连牲畜也当与人一同受苦，因为它们作为人犯罪的工具已经服在虚空之下，也藉它们的哀鸣或因无食的默默憔悴，可以激发它们的主人及伺候它们的人表达忧愁与自卑。那些养在屋内的牲畜不可如常喂养饮水，因为那日不可动烟火。这类事必须被忘记，不被记念。如诗篇作者专心于赞美神之时，呼吁低等受造之物与他同参与；照样尼尼微人满心为罪忧愁、为神审判恐惧之时，也愿低等受造之物与他们同表悔改。那些素常披挂华美装饰——其主人的骄傲、也是它们自己的骄傲——的牲畜，如今也当披上麻布；因为大人先生们将（如所当行）卸下他们的仪仗。[二] 在禁食哀痛之外，他们必须加上向神的祷告与恳求；因为禁食是为使身体适合灵魂在祷告之工中事奉——那才是主要的，其余不过是预备或附属。让他们切切呼求神；让连畜类也按其所能而如此；让它们因无食的哀鸣呻吟蒙恩惠地解作向神的呼求，如幼鸦的哀鸣（伯38:41）、如少壮狮子的咆哮（诗104:21）。但尤其让男、女、孩童向神呼求；让他们为那向他们呼求的罪之赦免切切呼求。当他们与毁灭之间不过一步之时——正是寻求耶和华之时。在祷告中我们必须切切呼求，以思想的专一、信心的坚定、敬虔虔诚情感的恳切。切切呼求便是与神较力，便是抓住他；当神不但如朋友离开我们，更如仇敌出来攻击我们之时，我们必须如此行。所以我们当在祷告中激发自己一切所有的。然而这还不是全部；[三] 他们必须在禁食祷告之外加上生活的改革与改正：各人回头离开所行的恶道——他所选择的恶道、他所沉迷并行走其中的恶道、他心中的恶道、他行事为人的恶道，尤其丢弃手中的强暴；让他们归还所不正当取的，弥补所行的冤屈，不再欺压他们有权管辖的人，不再欺骗与他们交易的人；让有权位的人，在城的宫廷一端，丢弃手中的强暴，不再拟定不义的律例，不再在上诉时作错谬的判决。让经商的人，在城的商业一端，丢弃手中的强暴，不再用不公的法码或量器，不再欺蒙交易对手的无知或急需。注意，为罪禁食尚不足够，必须从罪禁食；为使我们的祷告通达，必须不再心里注重罪孽（诗66:18）。这才是神所拣选、所悦纳的禁食（赛58:6，亚7:5,9）。禁食之日的工不随日终；不，那时最艰难、最必需的部分才开始，那就是从罪转回、过新的生活，不再如狗回到自己所吐的。
（二）这禁食为何颁布、为何如此敬虔地遵守（拿3:9）。或者神转意不发烈怒，也未可知。 当注意：[一] 他们所盼望的——神在他们悔改转回之时，必改变待他们之道，撤销对他们所定的判语，他必转意不发烈怒——他们承认这是他们当受的，却仍谦卑恳切地恳求免受，如此他们的毁灭便可防止，他们不至灭亡。他们不能质疑审判的公正，也不假装上诉于更高的法庭，只盼望在神自己身上——他必后悔，他自己的怜悯（他们投奔其中）必胜过审判。他们信神公正地向他们发怒，他们的罪既甚重，他的怒气也甚烈，他若对付他们，便无救法——他们必死，必灭亡，全都灭亡，归于无有；因为谁能晓得他怒气的权能？所以他们所求免其临到的，不是所威胁的倾覆，而是神的怒气——他们求神转消它。当我们求神的恩惠之时，我们便是求一切善；当我们求神止息怒气之时，我们便是求免一切恶。[二] 他们对此盼望的程度：或者神转向我们，也未可知。 约拿没有告诉他们；他们中间没有别的先知告诉他们，所以他们不能如我们那样确信悔改之时必蒙怜悯——我们有神的应许与起誓可倚靠，尤其有基督的功劳与中保可信赖，悔改必得赦免。然而他们对神本性的良善、他对人的怜悯、他对罪人悔改归正的喜悦，有笼统的概念；由此他们生出一些盼望，以为他必顾惜他们；他们不敢妄恃，却也不至绝望。注意，对怜悯的盼望乃是悔改与改过的大鼓励；虽然其中只有微茫的盼望之光，掺杂着因自觉有罪、不配、长久滥用神圣忍耐而生的极大恐惧，仍足以激发并促使我们真诚悔改与改过。让我们放胆投奔白白恩典的脚凳，决心若灭亡便灭亡在那里；然而谁知神岂不以怜悯眷顾我们？
II. 此处有神圣怜悯在尼尼微人悔改之后顾惜他们的奇事（拿3:10）：神察看他们的行为——他不仅听见他们口中所承认悔改的好话，更看见他们与悔改相称的果子的好行为；他看见他们离开恶道——那正是他所寻找、所要求的。他若未见此，他们的禁食与麻布在他眼中便如无物。他看见他们中间有对罪的普遍知罪，有不回到其中的普遍决心，有数日间更好的生活，城中呈现新的气象；他甚喜悦。注意，神留意罪人改过的每一个表现，甚至是那些不落在世人认识与观察之下的表现。他看见谁离开恶道、谁不离开，并以恩惠迎接那以真诚归正迎见他的人。当他们为所犯之罪的恶悔改之时，他便为所宣告审判之祸后悔。如此他顾惜了尼尼微，不把所说的灾祸降与他们。此处没有向神献祭以赎罪——至少我们未读到——但神的祭就是忧伤的灵；忧伤痛悔的心——如尼尼微人如今所有的——他必不轻看；那是他所赐恩、所尊荣的。
英文原文
Nineveh's Repentance (840 BC)
⁵ 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.
⁶ For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
⁷ And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
⁸ But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
⁹ Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
¹⁰ And 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.
Here is I. A wonder of divine grace in the repentance and reformation of Nineveh, upon the warning given them of their destruction approaching. Verily I say unto you, we have not found so great an instance of it, no, not in Israel; and it will rise up in judgment against the men of the gospel—generation, and condemn them; for the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonas, but behold, a greater than Jonas is here, Mt 12:41. Nay, it did condemn the impenitence and obstinacy of Israel at that time. God sent many prophets to Israel, and those well known among them to be mighty in word and deed; but to Nineveh he sent only one, and him a stranger, whose aspect was mean, we may suppose, and his bodily presence weak, especially after the fatigue of so long a journey; and yet they repented, but Israel repented not. Jonah preached but one sermon, and we do not find that he gave them any sign or wonder by the accomplishment of which his word might be confirmed; and yet they were wrought upon, while Israel continued obstinate, whose prophets chose out words wherewith to reason with them, and confirmed them by signs following. Jonah only threatened wrath and ruin; we do not find that he gave them any calls to repentance or directions how to repent, much less any encouragements to hope that they should find mercy if they did repent, and yet they repented; but Israel persisted in impenitence, though the prophets sent to them drew them with cords of a man, and with bands of love, and assured them of great things which God would do for them if they did repent and reform. Now let us see what was the method of Nineveh's repentance, what were the steps and particular instances of it.
1. They believed God; they gave credit to the word which Jonah spoke to them in the name of God: they believed that though they had many that they called gods, yet there was but one living and true God, the sovereign Lord of all,—that to him they were accountable,—that they had sinned against him and had become obnoxious to his justice,—that this notice sent them of ruin approaching came from him, and consequently that the ruin itself would come from him at a time prefixed if it were not prevented by a timely repentance,—that he is a merciful God, and there might be some hopes of the turning away of the wrath threatened, if they did turn away from the sins for which it was threatened. Note, Those that come to God, that come back to him after they have revolted from him, must believe, must believe that he is, that he is reconcilable, that he will be theirs if they take the right course. And observe what great faith God can work by very small, weak, and unlikely means; he can bring even Ninevites by a few threatening words to be obedient to the faith. Some think the Ninevites heard, from the mariners or others, or from Jonah himself, of his being cast into the sea and delivered thence by miracle, and that this served for a confirmation of his mission, and brought them the more readily to believe God speaking by him. But of this we have no certainty. However, Christ's resurrection, typified by that of Jonah's, served for the confirmation of his gospel, and contributed abundantly to their great success who in his name preached repentance and remission of sins to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
2. They brought word to the king of Nineveh, who, some think, was at this time Sardanapalus, others Pul, king of Assyria. Jonah was not directed to go to him first, in respect to his royal dignity; crowned heads, when guilty heads, are before God upon a level with common heads, and therefore Jonah is not sent to the court, but to the streets of Nineveh, to make his proclamation. However, an account of his errand is brought to the king of Nineveh, not by way of information against Jonah, as a disturber of public peace, that he might be silenced and punished, which perhaps would have been done if he had cried thus in the streets of Jerusalem, who killed God's prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her. No; the account was brought him of it, not as of a crime, but as a message from heaven, by some that were concerned for the public welfare, and whose hearts trembled for it. Note, Those kings are happy who have such about them as will give them notice of the things that belong to the kingdom's peace, of the warnings both of the word and of the providence of God, and of the tokens of God's displeasure which they are under; and those people are happy who have such kings over them as will take notice of those things.
3. The king set them a good example of humiliation, Jon 3:6. When he heard of the word of God sent to him he rose from his throne, as Eglon the king of Moab, who, when Ehud told him he had a message to him from God, rose up out of his seat. The king of Nineveh rose from his throne, not only in reverence to a word from God in general, but in fear of a word of wrath in particular, and in sorrow and shame for sin, by which he and his people had become obnoxious to his wrath. He rose from his royal throne, and laid aside his royal robe, the badge of his imperial dignity, as an acknowledgment that, having not used his power as he ought to have done for the restraining of violence and wrong, and the maintaining of right, he had forfeited his throne and robe to the justice of God, had rendered himself unworthy of the honour put upon him and the trust reposed in him as a king, and that it was just with God to take his kingdom from him. Even the king himself disdained not to put on the garb of a penitent, for he covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, in token of his humiliation for sin and his dread of divine vengeance. It well becomes the greatest of men to abase themselves before the great God.
4. The people conformed to the example of the king, nay, it should seem, they led the way, for they first began to put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them, Jon 3:5. The least of them, that had least to lose in the overthrow of the city, did not think themselves unconcerned in the alarm; and the greatest of them, that were accustomed to lie at ease and live in state, did not think it below them to put on the marks of humiliation. 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. Note, Those that would not be ruined must be humbled, those that would not destroy their souls must afflict their souls; when God's judgments threaten us we are concerned to humble ourselves under his mighty hand; and though bodily exercise alone profits nothing, and man's spreading sackcloth and ashes under him, if that be all, is but a jest (it is the heart that God looks at, Isa 58:5), yet on solemn days of humiliation, when God in his providence calls to mourning and girding with sackcloth, we must by the outward expressions of inward sorrow glorify God with our bodies, at least by laying aside their ornaments.
5. A general fast was proclaimed and observed throughout that great city, Jon 3:7-9. It was ordered by the decree of the king and his nobles; the whole legislative power concurred in appointing it, and the whole body of the people concurred in observing it, and in both these ways it became a national act, and it was necessary that it should be so when it was to prevent a national ruin. We have here the contents of this proclamation, and it is very observable. See here,
(1.) What it is that is required by it. [1.] That the fast (properly so called) be very strictly observed. On the day appointed for this solemnity, let neither man or beast taste any thing; let them not take the least refreshment, no, no so much as drink water; let them not plead that they cannot fast so long without prejudice to their health, or that they cannot bear it; let them try for once. What if they do feel it an uneasiness, and feel from it for some time after? It is better to submit to that than be wanting in any act or instance of that repentance which is necessary to save a sinking city. Let them make themselves uneasy in body by putting on sackcloth, as well as by fasting, to show how uneasy they are in mind, through sorrow for sin and the fear of divine wrath. Even the beasts must do penance as well as man, because they have been made subject to vanity as instruments of man's sin, and that, either by their complaints or their silent pining for want of meat, they might stir up their owners, and those that attended them, to the expressions of sorrow and humiliation. Those cattle that were kept within doors must not be fed and watered as usual, because no meat must be stirring on that day. Things of that kind must be forgotten, and not minded. As when the psalmist was intent upon the praises of God he called upon the inferior creatures to join with him therein, so when the Ninevites were full of sorrow for sin, and dread of God's judgments, they would have the inferior creatures concur with them in the expressions of penitence. The beasts that used to be covered with rich and fine trappings, which were the pride of their masters, and theirs too, must now be covered with sackcloth; for the great men will (as becomes them) lay aside their equipage. [2.] With their fasting and mourning they must join prayer and supplication to God; for the fasting is designed to fit the body for the service of the soul in the duty of prayer, which is the main matter, and to which the other is but preparatory or subservient. Let them cry mightily to God; let even the brute creatures do it according to their capacity; let their cries and moans for want of food be graciously construed as cries to God, as the cries of the young ravens are (Job 38:41), and of the young lions, Ps 104:21. But especially let the men, women, and children, cry to God; let them cry mightily for the pardon of the sins which cry against them. It was time to cry to God when there was but a step between them and ruin—high time to seek the Lord. In prayer we must cry mightily, with a fixedness of thought, firmness of faith, and fervour of pious and devout affections. By crying mightily we wrestle with God; we take hold of him; and we are concerned to do so when he is not only departing from us as a friend, but coming forth against us as an enemy. It therefore concerns us in prayer to stir up all that is within us. Yet this is not all; [3.] They must to their fasting and praying add reformation and amendment of life: Let them turn every one from his evil way, the evil way he has chosen, the evil way he is addicted to, and walks in, the evil way of his heart, and the evil way of his conversation, and particularly from the violence that is in their hands; let them restore what they had unjustly taken, and make reparation for what wrong they have done, and let them not any more oppress those they have power over nor defraud those they have dealings with; let the men in authority, at the court-end of the town, turn from the violence that is in their hands, and not decree unrighteous decrees, nor give wrong judgment upon appeals made to them. Let the men of business, at the trading-end of the town, turn from the violence in their hands, and use no unjust weights or measures, nor impose upon the ignorance or necessity of those they trade with. Note, It is not enough to fast for sin, but we must fast from sin, and, in order to the success of our prayers, must no more regard iniquity in our hearts, Ps 66:18. This is the only fast that God has chosen and will accept, Isa 58:6, Zec 7:5,9. The work of a fast-day is not done with the day; no, then the hardest and most needful part of the work begins, which is to turn from sin, and to live a new life, and not return with the dog to his vomit.
(2.) Upon what inducement this fast is proclaimed and religiously observed (Jon 3:9). Who can tell if God will turn and repent? Observe, [1.] What it is that they hope for—that God will, upon their repenting and turning, change his way towards them and revoke his sentence against them, that he will turn from his fierce anger, which they own they deserve and yet humbly and earnestly deprecate, and that thus their ruin will be prevented, and they perish not. They cannot object against the equity of the judgment, they pretend not to set it aside by appealing to a higher court, but hope in God himself, that he will repent, and that his own mercy (to which they fly) shall rejoice against judgment. They believe that God is justly angry with them, that, their sin being very heinous, his anger is very fierce, and that, if he proceed against them, there is no remedy, but they die, they perish, they all perish, and are undone; for who knows the power of his anger? It is not therefore the threatened overthrow that they pray for the prevention of, but the anger of God that they pray for the turning away of. As when we pray for the favour of God we pray for all good, so when we pray against the wrath of God we pray against all evil. [2.] What degree of hope they had of it: Who can tell if God will turn to us? Jonah had not told them; they had not among them any other prophets to tell them, so that they could not be so confident of finding mercy upon their repentance as we may be, who have the promise and oath of God to depend upon, and especially the merit and mediation of Christ to trust to, for pardon upon repentance. Yet they had a general notion of the goodness of God's nature, his mercy to man, and his being pleased with the repentance and conversion of sinners; and from this they raised some hopes that he would spare them; they dare not presume, but they will not despair. Note, Hope of mercy is the great encouragement to repentance and reformation; and though there be but some glimmerings of hope mixed with great fears arising from a sense of our own sinfulness, and unworthiness, and long abuse of divine patience, yet they may serve to quicken and engage our serious repentance and reformation. Let us boldly cast ourselves at the footstool of free grace, resolving that if we perish, we will perish there; yet who knows but God will look upon us with compassion?
II. Here is a wonder of divine mercy in the sparing of these Ninevites upon their repentance (Jon 3:10): God saw their works; he not only heard their good words, by which they professed repentance, but saw their good works, by which they brought forth fruits meet for repentance; he saw that they turned from their evil way, and that was the thing he looked for and required. If he had not seen that, their fasting and sackcloth would have been as nothing in his account. He saw there was among them a general conviction of their sins and a general resolution not to return to them, and that for some days they lived better, and there was a new face of things upon the city; and this he was well pleased with. Note, God takes notice of every instance of the reformation of sinners, even those instances that fall not under the cognizance and observation of the world. He sees who turn from their evil way and who do not, and meets those with favour that meet him in a sincere conversion. When they repent of the evil of sin committed by them he repents of the evil of judgment pronounced against them. Thus he spared Nineveh, and did not the evil which he said he would do against it. Here were no sacrifices offered to God, that we read of, to make atonement for sin, but the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, such as the Ninevites now had, is what he will not despise; it is what he will give countenance to and put honour upon.
本章我们有：I. 约拿的使命重新设立，第二次奉差前往尼尼微传道之命令（拿3:1-2）。II. 约拿向尼尼微所传的信息忠实地传达，宣告其速速倾覆之威胁（拿3:3-4）。III. 尼尼微人因此悔改、自卑与改过（拿3:5-9）。IV. 神恩惠地撤销所加于他们的判语，并阻止所威胁的毁灭（拿3:10）。