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Artwork for God Saw Their Works

Jonah 3:5-10

God Saw Their Works

Lyrics · Jonah

God Saw Their Works

Jonah 3:5-10

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About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the Jonah collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
Jonah
Collection
Jonah
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[Litany] The warning reached stone, then reached the throne, Cry mightily, turn from evil and violence, The king laid his robe on the ground by the crown. Let hands release what made neighbors afraid. Great and small wore sackcloth alike, Cry mightily, turn from evil and violence, The city learned language no empire could fake. Let hands release what made neighbors afraid. [Verse 2] Who can tell? no bargain, no right to demand, Only repentance with ash in the hand. God saw their works, that they turned from their way, Not cloth without change or a fast for display. [Refrain] Cry mightily, turn from evil and violence, Let hands release what made neighbors afraid. [Bridge] Mercy withheld what the warning foretold, A violent city was given another day. The throne came down and the people turned round, God saw their works, and destruction stood down. [Final Chorus] Cry mightily, turn from evil and violence, Let hands release what made neighbors afraid. God saw their works, and destruction stood down.

About the passage

Jonah 3: A city turns, and the threatened destruction does not come

The second commission in Jonah 3 does not offer a new assignment. It sends Jonah back to the city he tried to avoid, and this time he goes "according to the word of the LORD." The account records obedience without yet claiming that his attitude has changed. Against Nineveh's great scale, Jonah's preserved warning is strikingly short: forty days and an overthrow. The response is anything but small. The people believe God before the king enters the scene, and the king then lays aside his robe, sits in ashes, and extends the fast throughout the city. Yet sackcloth is not the chapter's final measure of repentance. The decree names evil and violence, and verse 10 says God saw their works, specifically that they turned from their evil way. Mercy is sought without being presumed, and the threatened calamity is withheld. Nineveh's resistance is no longer the problem. The next chapter will expose Jonah's resistance to its preservation.

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