Forty Days—and Nineveh Believes God

Jonah’s recorded sermon is startlingly short: forty days remain before Nineveh is “overthrown.” The people respond immediately by believing God, proclaiming a fast, and wearing sackcloth. Where Scripture takes it next: Jesus explicitly appeals to “the men of Nineveh” who repented at Jonah’s preaching and says they will rise in judgment against a generation hearing someone greater than Jonah. The canonical emphasis is not on Jonah’s eloquence but on Nineveh’s response to warning.