Jonah 3
1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time, saying:
Ilizwi leNkosi laselifika kuJona ngokwesibili, lisithi:
2 Arise, and go to Ninive the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee.
Sukuma, uye eNineve, lowana umuzi omkhulu, utshumayele kuwo intshumayelo engikutshela yona.
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.
UJona wasesukuma, waya eNineve, njengokwelizwi leNkosi. Phela iNineve yayingumuzi omkhulu kakhulu, uhambo lwezinsuku ezintathu.
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.
UJona waseqala ukungena emzini, uhambo losuku olulodwa. Wamemeza, wathi: Kusesezinsuku ezingamatshumi amane, khona iNineve izagenqulwa.
5 And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.
Abantu beNineve basebekholwa kuNkulunkulu, bamemezela ukuzila ukudla, bagqoka amasaka, kusukela komkhulu wabo kwaze kwaba komncinyane wabo.
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.
Ngoba ilizwi lafinyelela enkosini yeNineve; yasisukuma esihlalweni sayo sobukhosi, yakhulula isembatho sayo kuyo, yazimbomboza ngesaka, yahlala emlotheni.
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.
Yasimemezela yathi kuyo iNineve ngomthetho wenkosi labakhulu bayo, isithi: Kakungabi lomuntu, kumbe inyamazana, inkomo kumbe imvu, okuzanambitha loba yini; kakungadli, kakunganathi amanzi.
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.
Kodwa kakuthi umuntu lenyamazana kwembeswe amasaka, bakhale kuNkulunkulu ngamandla, yebo, baphenduke, ngulowo lalowo endleleni yakhe embi, lodlakeleni olusezandleni zabo.
9 Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish?
Ngubani owaziyo, uNkulunkulu angaphenduka azisole, aphenduke asuke kukuvutha kolaka lwakhe, ukuze singabhubhi.
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.
UNkulunkulu wasebona imisebenzi yabo, ukuthi baphendukile endleleni yabo embi; uNkulunkulu wazisola ngobubi ayethe uzabenza kubo, akaze abenza.
