What Does Jonah 3:2 Mean in the King James?
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Hebrew root names both the act of calling and the proclamation: the message itself is a summons.
THE MEANING
The verse gives a clear order: rise, go, and speak what is given. The messenger carries the proclamation outward; its source is not the messenger. A task can return after avoidance with a precise next step.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a messenger must create the message: what is spoken is received first, then carried outward.
THE ROOT
קָרָא
qārāʾ
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
To call out, summon, or proclaim.
“preach / preaching” in this verse is qārāʾ. Hebrew repeats קרא: Jonah is told to “call” the city with “the calling” or proclamation. English makes these sound like separate actions, while the shared root reveals that the announcement is itself a summons to hear.
ALSO GROWS
qerîʾāh: A calling or proclamation.
קְרִיאָה
This is the noun used for the message Jonah must deliver; it shares its root with the command to call.
miqrāʾ: A convocation or appointed assembly.
מִקְרָא
This branch shows how calling can gather people together, giving the proclamation a public reach.
qārāʾ: To call, name, or proclaim.
קָרָא
The verb at the heart of the commission links speaking the message with calling its hearers.
THE PATTERN
A messenger carries a word received and speaks it to those who need to hear it.
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.THE THREAD
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.Jonah’s commission and Nineveh’s response share קרא (qārāʾ, to call or cry out): he calls the city, and the city cries out to God. The same root passes from the messenger’s proclamation into the hearers’ own voice.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us