Jonah 1:2 (WEB)

Passage

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”

Nearby Context

Jonah 1:1 Now Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

Jonah 1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”

Jonah 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.

Jonah 1:4 But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "arise", "nineveh", "great", "city", "preach", "against", "wickedness", and "come". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "arise" and "nineveh", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "Now Yahweh s word came to Jonah..." into verse 3's "But Jonah rose up to flee to...", so "arise" and "nineveh" 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 "arise" and "nineveh" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.