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But God soon commanded Jonah to do what he had heard before, to go to that great city and proclaim a terrible threat. The prophet, having learned from experience how destructive it is to resist God, sets out on the road, as he was commanded, and comes to Nineveh. And let no one be unreasonably curious about how the whale spewed Jonah out of itself, because everything that He pleases is possible with God, nor about which shore it spewed him up; because this too is extremely unnecessary; Let every godly man be content with the teaching of the Spirit. The city was great to God, like a journey of three days. The salvation of this city was very important for God, as he created many people in it. The words: “like a procession of a journey of three days”, others understood about the area subordinate to the city and extending in length and width for three days’ journey: while others understood it to mean that the preacher could circumnavigate the entire city in three days. Whoever accepts this or that will not harm the truth. But the latter understanding seems more correct to me. The addition forces me to prefer it. For it is said: John 3:4. And Jonah began to enter the city, like the journey of one day. The Prophet does not walk directly through the city, but goes around the market places, streets, alleys, and preaches: Three more days and Nineveh will be transformed. Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion said: “forty days”; Both the Syriac translation and the Hebrew text agree with them. And this number has probability; because otherwise the time during which Jonah walked around the entire city would be limited to three days, and the Ninevites, having brought difficult repentance to God, were granted salvation from Him, and the Prophet, sitting at the city gates, awaited the fulfillment of the prophecy. Therefore, it seems to me that a forty-day period is more accurate. Probably seventy, in agreement with other translators, put the number forty, but the first copyists made an error in the number, and then all the lists were published that way. And the Ninevites, seeing that an unknown and foreign man was preaching something upsetting to them, not only did not show displeasure and did not kill the preacher, but, believing what was prophesied, both the rich and the poor put on sackcloth and began to offer prayers to God. For this is what the Prophet said: John 3:5. From their greatness even to their smallness. Because the king himself heard the prophetic word; then he left the throne, which was gold-plated and decorated with expensive stones, took off his scarlet robe as useless, and instead dressed himself in sackcloth, and commanded not only all husbands and wives to keep a strict fast, but not even to give food to dumb animals, so that when they were tormented by hunger, they would moo sometimes, bleat sometimes, and each one would give its voice, and people would spill fuel. tears, and thus opened the sources of God's mercy. Not only did they use sackcloth and fasting to help, they offered prayers to God: John 3:8–9. But each one should return from his evil way and from the unrighteousness that is in their hands, saying: Who knows if God will repent and beg, and turn from the wrath of His wrath, and we will not perish? This is the law of true repentance. It is said: “turn away from evil and do good” (Ps. 33:15); and again: “cease from your wickedness, learn to do good” (Is. 1:16–17). Therefore, the Ninevites, having ceased to commit their former sins and corrected their morals, were honored with God's favor. For it is said: John 3:10. And God saw their deeds, as if they had turned from their evil ways: and God repented of the evil that He had said to do to them, and did not do it. God did not look upon fasting, but on abandoning bad deeds; therefore, He rewards their repentance with His repentance, repenting not like us; because God does not want this to happen today and something else tomorrow; On the contrary, the Prophet called the cancellation of the threat repentance; for this is why God threatened. Intending to punish, he would not have uttered a threat, but would have imposed the punishment itself. since he rejoices only in salvation, he threatens the sorrowful so as not to bring them to sorrow itself. And he called the threat “evil” not because in its very nature it is evil; for how can she be evil when she leads with her the cessation of evil and the acquisition of virtue and truth? But the divine scripture, using names that have become common among us, called the threat of punishment evil, because it can alarm and upset. And the Prophet, seeing this God’s love for mankind, becomes despondent and grieves that the prophecy is refuted and turns out to be false; then he prays to God and explains the reason for his flight.