Jonah 3
1 And the worde of the Lord came vnto Ionah the seconde time, saying,
Then Yahweh said to Jonah again,
2 Arise, goe vnto Nineueh that great citie, and preach vnto it the preaching, which I bid thee.
“Go to that great city of Nineveh, and tell them the message that I gave you [previously].”
3 So Ionah arose and went to Nineueh according to ye word of the Lord: now Nineueh was a great and excellent citie of three dayes iourney.
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 Ionah began to enter into the citie a dayes iourney, and he cryed, and said, Yet fourtie dayes, and Nineueh shalbe ouerthrowen.
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 So the people of Nineueh beleeued God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from ye greatest of the euen to the least of them.
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 For worde came vnto the King of Nineueh, and he rose from his throne, and he layed his robe from him, and couered him with sackecloth, and sate 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 proclaimed and said through Nineueh, (by the counsell of ye king and his nobles) saying, Let neither man, nor beast, bullock nor sheep taste any thing, neither feed nor drinke 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 But let man and beast put on sackecloth, and crie mightily vnto God: yea, let euery man turne from his euill way, and from the wickednesse that is in their handes.
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 turne, and repent and turne away from his fierce wrath, that we perish not?
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 sawe their workes that they turned from their euill wayes: and God repented of the euill that he had said that he woulde doe vnto 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.
