约拿书 3
1 耶和华的话二次临到约拿说：
This message from the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
2 “你起来！往尼尼微大城去，向其中的居民宣告我所吩咐你的话。”
‘Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’
3 约拿便照耶和华的话起来，往尼尼微去。这尼尼微是极大的城，有三日的路程。
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 约拿进城走了一日，宣告说：“再等四十日，尼尼微必倾覆了！”
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, and he proclaimed, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’
5 尼尼微人信服 神，便宣告禁食，从最大的到至小的都穿麻衣。
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 这信息传到尼尼微王的耳中，他就下了宝座，脱下朝服，披上麻布，坐在灰中。
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 他又使人遍告尼尼微通城，说：“王和大臣有令，人不可尝什么，牲畜、牛羊不可吃草，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 人与牲畜都当披上麻布；人要切切求告 神。各人回头离开所行的恶道，丢弃手中的强暴。
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 或者 神转意后悔，不发烈怒，使我们不致灭亡，也未可知。”
Who knows? God may relent and avert his fierce anger, so that we may not die.’
10 于是 神察看他们的行为，见他们离开恶道，他就后悔，不把所说的灾祸降与他们了。
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.
