Mesopotamia (Assyria) · OT
Nineveh
The great Assyrian capital that repented at Jonah's preaching and later fell under God's judgment.
Today: Outskirts of Mosul, Iraq
Nineveh stood on the east bank of the Tigris River opposite modern Mosul in northern Iraq. Founded by Nimrod (Genesis 10:11) and developed into the imperial capital under Sennacherib, it was one of the largest cities of the ancient world — Jonah calls it 'an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.'
Nineveh is the setting of the book of Jonah, where the reluctant prophet's eight-word sermon brought the king down from his throne and the whole city — from king to cattle — into sackcloth and ashes. A century later, the prophet Nahum announced the city's destruction, fulfilled in 612 BC when a coalition of Medes and Babylonians sacked it so thoroughly that its location was forgotten until rediscovered in the nineteenth century. Jesus held up the Ninevites' repentance as a witness against his own generation (Matthew 12:41).
Key verses
"So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city, of three days’ journey."
Read in context →
"And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them."
Read in context →
"The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite."
Read in context →
"The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here."
Read in context →
Related places