God Relents

Read Jonah 3 and mark every occurrence of "relent" and/or "relented."
When the king of Nineveh uses "relent" the first time, what other two actions are associated with it?
And according to the king of Nineveh, if God were to relent, what would not happen to the Ninevites?
According to verse 10, what was it that caused God to withdraw His burning anger? Was it their pleading, wearing of sackcloth, fasting, and sitting on ashes, or was it something else?
And what happened to the calamity that God had declared He would bring upon them?
From reading your Nineveh information, you probably picked up on the fact that eventually, not too many decades from this time, Nineveh was destroyed, and you can read about that destruction in the book of Nahum. However, the calamity was delayed because of the repentance of this particular generation of Ninevites, who chose to believe God and turn from their wicked ways.
If the Ninevites hadn't turned from their wicked ways, what would have happened?
Who changed direction--the Ninevites or God?
Although Jonah's proclamation, as we read it in the Bible, doesn't mention a choice, the Ninevites obviously realized that, perhaps, they did have a choice in their destiny and they decided to act as if they did have a choice, and as we learn in Jonah 3, they made a wise choice.

Read Matthew 12:38-41. Jesus is speaking to a group of scribes and Pharisees.
What character traits does Jesus attribute to his generation in Israel?
What sign does He say shall be given to this generation?
Who is compared with Whom in verse 40? What miracle is compared to what other miracle?
At the time of the judgment who does Jesus say will stand up with this generation now alive in Israel?
What did the Ninevites do when they heard Jonah's preaching?
Why will that make them able to condemn the generation to whom Jesus is speaking?
Who preached to the generation to whom Jesus is speaking?
And what was their response? Did they make a wise choice? Did they respond as the Ninevites did?
Imagine how this comparison must have struck those to whom Jesus was speaking! Here He is--holding up the former enemies of His people as an example. He's saying that this former enemy will be able to condemn God's people on the day of judgment.

So, if God warns us that we're off the path of righteousness and heading toward destruction, is it better to continue heading the wrong way or to do as the Ninevites did?
God sent Amos the prophet to the Israelites at around the same time as He sent Jonah to the Ninevites. Did the Israelites respond in the same way as the Ninevites? Did they change their wicked ways? Did they repent? What happened to Israel in 722 BC? (You can find out by looking at your "Times of the Prophets" sheet. "The Divided Kingdom" sheet recounts what happened in the third paragraph on the right side.)
In 586 BC, Judah fell to the Babylonians after repeated warnings by God that they needed to turn back to Him, or else . . .
After 70 years in exile, a remnant returned, as Isaiah and Jeremiah had prophesied. They rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. They had children, and their population grew. They endured the Greek occupation, and fought for their independence under the Maccabees. Their country came under Roman control, and it was into this scene that God sent His Son Jesus as a baby, the Savior of the world. Did this new generation of Jewish people change their ways as that generation of Ninevites did in the days of Jonah? No, and in AD 70 Titus demolished the temple in Jerusalem and drove the Jews from their land, dispersing them far and wide.

So, what have we learned?