Jonah 3
1 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jonah, the second time, saying:
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
2 Arise, get thee unto Nineveh, the great city, —and cry against it the cry that I am bidding thee.
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
3 So Jonah arose, and went his way unto Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh, —Nineveh, being a city great before God, of three days’ journey.
This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey.
4 So Jonah began to enter into the city, one day’s journey, —and he cried out and said—Yet forty days, and, Nineveh, is to be overthrown!
On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
5 And the people of Nineveh believed in God, —and proclaimed a fast, and clothed themselves in sackcloth, from the greatest of them, even unto the least of them.
And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
6 And the word reached unto the king of Nineveh, so he arose from his throne, and laid aside his robe from off him, —and covered him with sackcloth, and sat on ashes.
When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused an outcry to be made—and said—throughout Nineveh, By decree of the king and of his great men, Be it known: —Man and beast, herd and flock, Let them taste, nothing, let them not feed, and, water, let them not drink:
Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink.
8 Let both man and beast, cover themselves with sackcloth, and let them cry unto God, mightily, —Yea let them turn, every man from his wicked way, and from the violence which is in their hands:
Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.
9 Who knoweth whether God himself—may turn and grieve, —and turn away from the glow of his anger, that we perish not?
Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
10 And God saw their doings, that they turned from their wicked way, —and God was grieved over the calamity which he had spoken of executing upon them, and executed it not.
When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
