Jonah 3:5 (DRB)

Passage

And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.

Nearby Context

Jonah 3:3 And Jonah arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord: now Ninive was a great city of three days' journey.

Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city one day's journey: and he cried and said: Yet forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed.

Jonah 3:5 And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.

Jonah 3:6 And the word came to the king of Ninive: and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Jonah 3:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen, nor sheep taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "ninive", "believed", "proclaimed", "fast", "sackcloth", "greatest", and "least". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "ninive" and "believed", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "And Jonah began to enter into the..." into verse 6's "And the word came to the king...", so "ninive" and "believed" belong inside that flow. In Jonah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "ninive" and "believed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.