Jonah 3
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
Arise, go unto Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim unto it the proclamation which I shall speak unto thee.
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.
And Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a great city before God, a three days' journey.
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 began to go through the city one day's journey, and he called out, and said, Yet forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
And the men of Nineveh believed in God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
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.
For when the matter was come unto the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, and put off his mantle from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down on ashes.
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 caused to be proclaimed and he published through Nineveh, By the decree of the king and his chief men, it is said, Neither man nor beast, neither herds nor flocks, shall taste any thing; they shall not feed, nor drink 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.
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let [men] call unto God with might; and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
Who knoweth, but God may turn and bethink himself, and turn away from the fierceness of his anger, that we perish not?
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 their works, that they had turned from their evil way: and God bethought himself of the evil, which he had spoken that he would do unto them, and he did it not.
