Jonah 3
1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying:
Then Yahweh said to Jonah again,
2 Arise, and go to Ninive the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee.
“Go to that great city of Nineveh, and tell them the message that I gave you [previously].”
3 And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the Lord: now Ninive was a great city of three days’ journey.
So [this time] Jonah obeyed Yahweh, and he went to Nineveh. That city was so big that a person [had to walk] for three days to completely [go through] it.
4 And Jonas began to enter into the city one day’s journey: and he cried, and said: Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed.
On the first day [after] Jonah [arrived], he [began walking] through the city. He was proclaiming (OR, At the end of that day he started proclaiming) to the people, “Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed {[God] will destroy Nineveh}!”
5 And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.
The people of Nineveh believed God’s [message]. They [all] decided that everyone should begin (fasting/abstaining from food). So [everyone], including important people and unimportant people, [did that]. They [also] put on coarse cloth, [to show that they were sorry for having sinned].
6 And the word came to the king of Ninive; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
The King of Nineveh heard [what the people were doing]. [So] he took off his royal robes, and [he also] put on coarse cloth. He left his palace, and sat down where there were [cold] ashes, [to show that he also was sorry for having sinned].
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water.
Then he sent messengers to proclaim to [the people in] Nineveh: “My advisors and I have decreed that no one may eat or drink anything. Do not even allow your animals to eat or drink.
8 And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands.
Instead, every person must put on coarse cloth. [Put coarse cloth on] your animals, [too]. Then everyone must pray fervently to God. And everyone must stop doing evil actions/things, and stop acting violently [toward others].
9 Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish?
Perhaps, [if everyone does that], God may change his mind and be merciful [to us], and stop being very angry with us, with the result that we will not die.”
10 And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which he had said that he would do to them, and he did it not.
When they [all did that], God saw what they were doing, and he saw that they had stopped doing evil things. So [he pitied them, and] he did not get rid of them as he had threatened to do.
