Bible Strands
Jonah 1:2
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Jonah son of Amittai immediately after delivering His initial message in Jonah 1:1. The command occurs at the narrative's opening, establishing the divine directive before Jonah's flight in verse 3.
The words — The imperative ק֠וּם (kum) means "arise" or "get up," and לֵ֧ךְ (lekh) means "go." These verbs frame the command as an immediate, unyielding movement toward the city.
The thread — The phrase "wickedness has come up before Me" echoes the divine assessment of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:20 and recalls the founding of Nineveh in Genesis 10:11. The command to "call out" against it parallels the prophetic mandate in Isaiah 58:1 to declare transgression without restraint.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate obedience to a difficult mission, presenting divine authority as prior to human reluctance. It requires the reader to recognize that prophetic commission carries an unavoidable mandate to confront established corruption.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
Cross-references
- Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Genesis 10:11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
- Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
- Nahum 1:1 This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
- Jonah 3:2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
- Jonah 4:11 So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”
- Zephaniah 2:13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
- Jeremiah 1:7 But the LORD told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak.
- Ezekiel 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—
- Revelation 18:5 For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.