Jonah 3:9 (GNV)

Passage

Who can tell if God will turne, and repent and turne away from his fierce wrath, that we perish not?

Nearby Context

Jonah 3:7 And he proclaimed and said through Nineueh, (by the counsell of ye king and his nobles) saying, Let neither man, nor beast, bullock nor sheep taste any thing, neither feed nor drinke water.

Jonah 3:8 But let man and beast put on sackecloth, and crie mightily vnto God: yea, let euery man turne from his euill way, and from the wickednesse that is in their handes.

Jonah 3:9 Who can tell if God will turne, and repent and turne away from his fierce wrath, that we perish not?

Jonah 3:10 And God sawe their workes that they turned from their euill wayes: and God repented of the euill that he had said that he woulde doe vnto them, and he did it not.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "tell", "turne", "repent", "away", "fierce", "wrath", and "perish". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "tell" and "turne", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "But let man and beast put on..." into verse 10's "And God sawe their workes that they...", so "tell" and "turne" 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 "tell" and "turne" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.