Jonah 3
1 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah for a second time.
And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Go immediately to the great city of Nineveh and announce the message I'm giving you.”
Arise, go unto Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim unto it the proclamation which I shall speak unto thee.
3 Jonah did what God told him. He set out and went to Nineveh, a city that was so big it took three days to walk through it.
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 Jonah went into the city, walking for one day, shouting out, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!”
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 The people of Nineveh believed in God. They announced a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
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 the news of what was happening reached the king of Nineveh he came down from his throne, took off his robe, put on 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 the king and the nobles issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh: “No person, no animal, no herd, and no flock, shall eat or drink anything.
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 Every person and every animal is to wear sackcloth. Everyone is to pray sincerely to God, give up the evil things they do, and stop using violence.
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 change his mind and relent. He may decide not to destroy us in his fierce anger.”
Who knoweth, but God may turn and bethink himself, and turn away from the fierceness of his anger, that we perish not?
10 God saw what they had done—that they had given up their evil ways—so he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
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.
