Jonah 3
1 And there is a word of YHWH to Jonah a second time, saying,
Ilizwi likaThixo laselifika kuJona ngokwesibili lathi:
2 “Rise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation that I am speaking to you”;
“Hamba uye edolobheni elikhulu laseNiniva uyotshumayela kulo ilizwi engikunika lona.”
3 and Jonah rises, and he goes to Nineveh, according to the word of YHWH. And Nineveh has been a great city before God, a journey of three days.
UJona walilalela ilizwi likaThixo, waya eNineve. Phela iNiniva yayilidolobho elikhulu kakhulu, ukulethekela lonke kwakuthatha insuku ezintathu.
4 And Jonah begins to go into the city—a journey of one day—and proclaims and says, “Yet forty days and Nineveh is overturned!”
Ngelanga lokuqala, uJona wangena phakathi komuzi. Wamemezela wathi, “Kusele insuku ezingamatshumi amane kuphela ukuba iNiniva ichithwe.”
5 And the men of Nineveh believe in God, and proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least,
Abantu beNiniva babekholwa kuNkulunkulu. Bamemezela ukuthi kuzilwe ukudla, njalo bonke kusukela komkhulu kusiya komncinyane bavunula amasaka.
6 seeing the word comes to the king of Nineveh, and he rises from his throne, and removes his honorable robe from off him, and spreads out sackcloth, and sits on the ashes,
Ilizwi selifikile enkosini yaseNiniva, yasukuma esihlalweni sayo sobukhosi, yakhumula izembatho zayo zobukhosi, yazembathisa isaka yahlala phansi ebhuqwini.
7 and he cries and says in Nineveh by a decree of the king and his great ones, saying, “Man and beast, herd and flock—do not let them taste anything, do not let them feed, do not even let them drink water;
Yase ikhupha isimemezelo eNiniva esithi: “Ngomthetho wenkosi lezikhulu zayo: Akungavunyelwa muntu kumbe inyamazana, imihlambi yenkomo loba eyezimvu ukuthi ithinte ulutho oludliwayo; makungavunyelwa kudle kumbe kunathe.
8 and let man and beast cover themselves [with] sackcloth, and let them call to God mightily, and let them each turn back from his evil way, and from the violence that [is] in their hands.
Kodwa akuthi umuntu loba yinyamazana kwembathe amasaka. Wonke umuntu kamemeze ngokukhawuleza kuNkulunkulu. Kabadele izindlela zabo zobubi lobudlwangudlwangu babo.
9 Who knows? He turns back, and God has relented, and has turned back from the heat of His anger, and we do not perish.”
Ngubani okwaziyo na? Mhlawumbe uNkulunkulu angadeda kuthi ngesihawu sakhe aphenduke elakeni lwakhe olwesabekayo ukuze singabhubhi.”
10 And God sees their works, that they have turned back from their evil way, and God relents of the evil that He spoke of doing to them, and He has not done [it].
Kwathi uNkulunkulu esebonile abakwenzayo ukuthi baguquka ezindleleni zabo zobubi, wabazwela isihawu kazabe esabehlisela incithakalo ayesonge ngayo.
