Jonah 3:8 - Exposition

Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. As we put trappings on horses in funerals. The LXX . wrongly makes this verse give an account of the execution of the edict instead of being part of the edict itself; thus: "And men and beasts were clothed with sackcloth," etc. Cry mightily; i.e. let man cry mightily; Septuagint, ἐκτενῶς , "with intensity;" Vulgate, in fortitudine. Let them turn every one from his evil way ( Jeremiah 25:5 ; Jeremiah 36:3 , Jeremiah 36:7 ). The edict recognizes the truth that outward acts of penitence are worthless without moral reformation—a truth which the Jews themselves had been very loth to admit (see Isaiah 58:1-14 ). And from the violence that is in their hands. The acts of violence that their hands have committed ( Job 16:17 ; Psalms 7:3 ). This is the special sin of the Assyrians, always grasping after empire, oppressing other nations, and guilty of rapine and avarice at home (see Isaiah 10:13 , Isaiah 10:14 ; Isaiah 37:24 , etc.; Nahum 2:11 , Nahum 2:12 ; Nahum 3:1 ).