Jonah 3
1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Then Yahweh said to Jonah again,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto 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 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding 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 Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
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 Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even 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 word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered [him] 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 through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, 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 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence 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 repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, 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 saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto 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.
