Written at a time when Jehovah’s chosen nation had broken covenant with him and fallen into pagan idolatry, the prophetic record shows that God’s mercy is not limited to any one nation, not even to Israel. Moreover, it exalts Jehovah’s great mercy and loving-kindness, in contrast with the lack of mercy, patience, and faith so often observed in imperfect man.

Jehovah showed loving-kindness toward Nineveh in sending his prophet to warn of impending destruction, and he was ready to show mercy when the city repented​—a mercy that permitted Nineveh to survive more than 200 years until its destruction by the Medes and Babylonians about 632 B.C.E.