Jonah 3:2

“Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, etc.] So it is called; (see Gill on “Jon 1:2”). The order runs in the same words as before; and the same discouragements are presented to Jonah, taken from the greatness of the city, the number of its inhabitants, its being the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, and the seat of the greatest monarch on earth, to try his faith; but these had not the like effect as before; for he had now another spirit given him, not of fear, but of a sound mind; he considered he was sent by a greater King, and that more were they that were on his side than the inhabitants of this place, who might possibly be against him: and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee;…”

“Arise, go to Nineveh that great city, and preach (or cry) unto it - God says to Jonah the self-same words which He had said before; only perhaps He gives him an intimation of His purpose of mercy, in that he says no more, “cry against her,” but “cry unto her.” He might “cry against” one doomed to destruction; to “cry unto her,” seems to imply that she had some interest in, and so some hope from, this cry. “The preaching that I bid thee.” This is the only notice which Jonah relates that God took of his disobedience, in that He charged him to obey exactly what He commanded . “He does not say to him, why didst thou not what I commanded?” He had rebuked him in deed; He amended him and upbraided…”

“Nineveh: Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was situated on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, opposite the present Mosul, about 280 miles north of Babylon, 400 ne of Damascus, in latitude 36 degrees 20 minutes n longitude 73 degrees 10 minutes e. It was not only a very ancient ( Gen 10:11), but also a very great city. Strabo says that it was much larger than Babylon, the circuit of which he estimates at 385 furlongs; and, according to Diodorus Siculus, it was an oblong parallelogram, extending 150 furlongs in length, 90 in breadth, and 480 in circumference, i.e., about 20 miles long, 12 broad, and 60 in compass. This agrees with the account given here of its being "an exceeding great city…”