Jonah 3
1 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jonah, the second time, saying:
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 Arise, get thee unto Nineveh, the great city, —and cry against it the cry that I am bidding thee.
“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give.”
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.
So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a very large city, one of three days' 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!
Jonah began to enter the city and after a day's journey he called out and said, “In forty days Nineveh will be overthrown.”
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.
The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast. They all put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them down to the least of them.
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.
Soon the news reached the king of Nineveh. He rose up from his throne, took off his 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:
He sent out a proclamation that said, “In Nineveh, by the authority of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not eat, nor drink water.
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:
But let both man and animal be covered with sackcloth and let them cry out loudly to God. Let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is 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 relent and change his mind and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do 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.
God saw what they did, that they turned from their evil ways. So then God changed his mind about the punishment that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
