Jonah 3:9 (LSB)

Passage

Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn away from His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

Nearby Context

Jonah 3:7 And he cried out and said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, animal, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat, and do not let them drink water.

Jonah 3:8 But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God with their strength that each may turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands.

Jonah 3:9 Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn away from His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

Jonah 3:10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, so God relented concerning the evil which He had spoken He would bring upon them. And He did not bring it upon them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "knows", "turn", "relent", "away", "burning", "anger", and "perish". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "knows" and "turn", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "But both man and animal must be..." into verse 10's "Then God saw their works that they...", so "knows" and "turn" 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 "knows" and "turn" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.