So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey across.
There is no need to multiply instances of this well known and frequent use of the past tense in the Bible.  As a matter of fact, such arguments as that concocted from "was" in this verse are not even believed by those using them, but they are for the purpose of deceiving people who are not supposed to know any better.  Robinson wrote: