Jonah 3
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
Up! go to Nineveh, that great town, and give it the word which I have given you.
3 This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey.
So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as the Lord had said. Now Nineveh was a very great town, three days' journey from end to end.
4 On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
And Jonah first of all went a day's journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.
5 And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
And the people of Nineveh had belief in God; and a time was fixed for going without food, and they put on haircloth, from the greatest to the least.
6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
And the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he got up from his seat of authority, and took off his robe, and covering himself with haircloth, took his seat in the dust.
7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink.
And he had it given out in Nineveh, By the order of the king and his great men, no man or beast, herd or flock, is to have a taste of anything; let them have no food or water:
8 Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.
And let man and beast be covered with haircloth, and let them make strong prayers to God: and let everyone be turned from his evil way and the violent acts of their hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
Who may say that God will not be turned, changing his purpose and turning away from his burning wrath, so that destruction may not overtake us?
10 When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
And God saw what they did, how they were turned from their evil way; and God's purpose was changed as to the evil which he said he would do to them, and he did it not.
