Jonah 3:2

Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching - literally, proclaim the proclamation. On the former occasion the specific object of his commission to Nineveh was declared; here it is indeterminate. This is to show how freely he yields himself, in the spirit of unconditional obedience, to speak whatever God may please. He seems to have been in a settled home when he received the command, "Arise;" whether his home now was in Jerusalem, where he had gone to pay his vows (), or in Gath-hepher, his birthplace. His commission before was, "Arise ... cry against it: for their wickedness is come up before me." Here it is, "Preach unto it," etc.; the change of expression was designed, perhaps, to give a hint of God's purpose of mercy.