約拿書 3
1 上主的話再次傳給約納說：
This message from the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
2 「你起身往尼尼微大城去，向他們宣告我曉諭你的事。」
‘Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’
3 約納便依從上主的話，起身去了尼尼微。尼尼微在天主前是一座大城，須要三天的行程。
So Jonah started for Nineveh, as the Lord commanded. Now Nineveh was so large a city that it took three days’ journey to cross it.
4 約納開始進城，行了一天的路程，宣佈說：「還有四十天，尼尼微就要毀滅了。」
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, and he proclaimed, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’
5 尼尼微人便信仰了天主，立刻宣佈禁食，從大到小，都身披苦衣。
And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they ordered a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6 當這傳到尼尼微王那裏，他便起來，離開自己的寶座，脫去長服，披上苦衣，坐在灰土中；
And when word came to the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, dressed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 然後命令以君王的諭令和其大臣的名義，在尼尼微宣佈說：「人、牲畜、牛羊，都可不可吃什麼；不可牧放，也不可喝水。
And he made this proclamation and published it in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: People, beast, herd, and flock shall not taste anything; let them not eat nor drink water.
8 人和牲畜都應身披苦衣，人要懇切呼求天主，更要轉離自己的邪路，放棄手中的暴行。
Let both people and animals put on sackcloth and let them cry earnestly to God; let them each turn from their evil ways and from the deeds of violence which they are doing.
9 誰知道天主也許會轉意憐憫，收回自己的烈怒，使我們不致滅亡。」
Who knows? God may relent and avert his fierce anger, so that we may not die.’
10 天主看到他們所行的事，看到他們離開自己的邪路，遂憐憫他們，不將已宣佈的災禍，降在他們身上。
When God saw that they turned from their evil course, he relented the evil which he said he would do to them, and did not do it.
