2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil
2 "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and I can't ignore it any longer."
2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me."
2 "Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jonah 1:2
Commentary on Jonah 1:1-3
(Read Jonah 1:1-3)
It is sad to think how much sin is committed in great cities. Their wickedness, as that of Nineveh, is a bold and open affront to God. Jonah must go at once to Nineveh, and there, on the spot, cry against the wickedness of it. Jonah would not go. Probably there are few among us who would not have tried to decline such a mission. Providence seemed to give him an opportunity to escape; we may be out of the way of duty, and yet may meet with a favourable gale. The ready way is not always the right way. See what the best of men are, when God leaves them to themselves; and what need we have, when the word of the Lord comes to us, to have the Spirit of the Lord to bring every thought within us into obedience.