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To me this is utterly perplexing, and I think also to everyone intelligent in mind and at least a little aware of the divine majesty, and not ignorant that the divine decrees ought to be consonant with God. But how is the first city of the Assyrians a great city to God, where the confusion of error existed, where the kingdom of idolatry was established, being very far from the so-called holy land and that which was promised to the physical Israel, unless God,(41) seeing the greatness of the faith of the Church from the gentiles, which is described by no word, accepted the future as present, and made its own what was once alien, and what was once most worthless through godlessness he made divine by the Word, and most precious, and having a majesty defined by no word, saying plainly through the prophet: “and Nineveh was a great city to God”; to which the word of prophetic grace, being sent, preached the blessed overthrow, saying: “Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Having come to this place of the appointed time of the days, I think I shall pass over the other things, as many as can be said by those who interpret the word allegorically, but I will consider with exact notation (14Γ_340> and say one thing alone, which perchance will not be found to deviate from the truth when said.

Therefore, hearing definitively the prophet proclaiming “Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” I expect the decision against Nineveh to be irrevocable, or rather, to speak more properly, the visitation upon Nineveh to take place. For I understand that after the three days, which the prophet, being typically in the belly of the sea-monster, prefigured in himself, anticipating the three-day burial and resurrection of the Lord, the word(42) awaited another three days, in which the light of truth was to be shown, and the true outcome of the foretold mysteries, and the overthrow of the city was certainly to take place, no longer prefiguring the future truth of the Savior’s burial and resurrection, but clearly showing the truth itself, enacted in deeds, of which the preceding triad of days of Jonah in the sea-monster was a prefiguration.

For if every type is of an expected truth, and according to the type Jonah spent three days in the belly of the sea-monster, it is clear that the mystery was bound to show the truth certainly following the type in reality and in a new way, and that the Lord spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, according to the voice of the Lord Himself, saying: “just as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” For to say “yet three days” indicates covertly that another three have passed, since “yet” would not have been placed there; that is, there will be another three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Therefore, the type did not overthrow Nineveh according to the divine decision, but the truth, (14Γ_342> concerning which he said “yet three days”, as if he were saying, yet three days after the type shown in me there will be a more mystical burial and a greater resurrection, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

But perhaps some questioning argument will say: how does God speak the truth in giving a decree of overthrow and not overthrowing? To which we say that he speaks the truth by overthrowing and saving it at the same time, doing the one by the casting off of error, and accomplishing the other by the reception of true knowledge, or rather, killing the error through faith which is brought back to life,(43) and accomplishing salvation by the death of error. For Nineveh is interpreted as ‘squalid blackness’ and ‘smoothest beauty’. Therefore, in accordance with the meaning of the interpretation, after the three-day burial and resurrection the Lord overthrew the squalid blackness of error that had been added to nature from the transgression, but the smoothest from the obedience of faith

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Ἐμοὶ μὲν τοῦτο παντελῶς ἄπορον, οἶμαι δὲ ὅτι καὶ παντὶ συνετῷ τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ μικρὸν γοῦν ἐπῃσθημένῳ τῆς θείας μεγαλειότητος καὶ τῷ Θεῷ τὰς θείας ψήφους ἐμφερεῖς εἶναι δεῖν οὐκ ἀγνοῶν. Πῶς δὲ τῷ Θεῷ μεγάλη πόλις ἐστὶν ἡ πρώτη πόλις τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, ἔνθα τῆς πλάνης ὑπῆρχεν ἡ σύγχυσις, ἔνθα τῆς εἰδωλομανίας ἵδρυτο τὸ βασίλειον, ἡ πολὺ πόρρω τυγχάνουσα τῆς λεγομένης ἁγίας γῆς καὶ τῷ σωματικῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπηγγελμένης, εἰ μὴ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς μηδενὶ λόγῳ περιγραφομένης πίστεως τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας ἐνιδὼν ὁ Θεὸς(41) τὸ μέλλον ὡς παρὸν ἀπεδέξατο καὶ τὸ τέως ἀλλότριον εἰσῳκίσατο καὶ τό ποτε διὰ τὴν ἀθεΐαν φαυλότατον ἔνθεον τῷ λόγῳ κατέστησε καὶ τιμιώτατον καὶ μηδενὶ λόγῳ τὸ μεγαλεῖον ὁριζόμενον ἔχον διὰ τοῦ προφήτου φήσας διαρρήδην· «καὶ Νινευὴ ἦν πόλις μεγάλη τῷ Θεῷ»· πρὸς ἣν ἀποσταλεὶς ὁ τῆς προφητικῆς χάριτος λόγος τὴν μακαρίαν καταστροφὴν ἐκήρυξεν, εἰπών· «ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι καὶ Νινευὴ καταστραφήσεται». Κατὰ τοῦτον γενόμενος τῆς τῶν ἡμερῶν προθεσμίας τὸν τόπον, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα δοκῶ μοι παρήσειν, ὅσα δυνατὸν ῥηθῆναι τοῖς τὸν λόγον ἀνάγουσιν, μονώτατον δὲ σκοπεῖν μετὰ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς σημειώσεως (14Γ_340> καὶ εἰπεῖν ὅπερ τυχὸν οὐκ ἔξω βαῖνον εὑρεθήσεται τῆς ἀληθείας λεγόμενον.

Τοίνυν ἀκούων ὁριστικῶς «ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι καὶ Νινευὴ καταστραφήσεται» τοῦ προφήτου κηρύττοντος ἀπαράβατον ἐκδέχομαι κατὰ τῆς Νινευὴ τὴν ἀπόφασιν, μᾶλλον δὲ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς Νινευὴ τὴν ἐπίσκεψιν ἔσεσθαι. Νοῶ γὰρ ὅτι μετὰ τὰς τρεῖς ἡμέρας, ἅσπερ τυπικῶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους ὑπάρχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ προλαβὼν τὴν τριήμερον ταφὴν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ἀνάστασιν προδιέγραψεν ὁ προφήτης, ἄλλας ἐξεδέχετο τρεῖς ἡμέρας ὁ λόγος(42), ἐν αἷς ἔμελλε τῆς ἀληθείας ἀποδειχθῆναι τὸ φῶς καὶ ἡ τῶν προρρηθέντων ἀληθὴς τῶν μυστηρίων ἔκβασις καὶ ἡ καταστροφὴ γενέσθαι πάντως τῆς πόλεως, οὐκέτι μέλλουσαν προτυπούσας τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ταφῆς καὶ ἀναστάσεως, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐνεργηθεῖσαν δεικνυούσας σαφῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἧς προδιατύπωσις ἦν ἡ προλαβοῦσα κατὰ τὸν Ἰωνᾶν ἐν τῷ κήτει τριὰς τῶν ἡμερῶν.

Εἰ γὰρ πᾶς τύπος προσδοκωμένης ἀληθείας ἐστίν, κατὰ δὲ τὸν τύπον τρεῖς ἡμέρας πεποίηκεν ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους Ἰωνᾶς, δῆλον ὡς τῷ τύπῳ πραγματειωδῶς ἐφεπομένην πάντως καινοπρεπῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν δεικνύναι τὸ μυστήριον ἔμελλε καὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς πεποιηκέναι τὸν Κύριον κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου φωνὴν φάσκοντος· «ὥσπερ ἦν Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, οὕτως ἔσται ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας». Τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν «ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι» δηλοῖ κατ᾽ ἐπίκρυψιν ὡς παρῆλθον ἄλλαι τρεῖς, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔκειτο τὸ «ἔτι», τουτέστι γενήσονται πάλιν τρεῖς ἡμέραι καὶ Νινευὴ καταστραφήσεται. Οὐκοῦν ὁ τύπος οὐ κατέστρεψε τὴν Νινευὴ κατὰ τὴν θείαν ἀπόφασιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ ἀλήθεια, (14Γ_342> περὶ ἧς εἶπεν «ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι», ὡσανεὶ ἔλεγεν ἕτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι μετὰ τὸν ἐν ἐμοὶ δειχθέντα τύπον γενήσονται μυστικωτέρας ταφῆς καὶ μείζονος ἀναστάσεως, καὶ Νινευὴ καταστραφήσεται.

Ἀλλ᾽ ἐρεῖ τις τυχὸν διαπορῶν λόγος· πῶς ἀληθεύει καταστροφῆς ψῆφον διδοὺς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ μὴ καταστρέφων; Πρὸς ὅν φαμεν ὡς ἀληθεύει τὴν αὐτὴ καταστρέφων καὶ σῴζων, τὸ μὲν τῇ ἀποθέσει τῆς πλάνης ποιῶν, τὸ δὲ τῇ προσλήψει κατορθῶν τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως, μᾶλλον δὲ τὴν μὲν πλάνην ἀποκτέννων διὰ τῆς πίστεως πάλιν ζωογονουμένης(43), τὴν δὲ σωτηρίαν τῷ θανάτῳ τῆς πλάνης πραγματευόμενος. Νινευὴ γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται 'μελάνωσις αὐχμηρὰ' καὶ 'ὡραιότης λειοτάτη'. Οὐκοῦν συμφώνως τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἑρμηνείας τὴν μὲν ἐκ τῆς παραβάσεως τῇ φύσει προσγενομένην αὐχμηρὰν τῆς πλάνης μελάνωσιν μετὰ τὴν τριήμερον ταφὴν καὶ ἀνάστασιν ὁ Κύριος κατέστρεψεν, τὴν δὲ ἐξ ὑπακοῆς πίστεως λειοτάτην