Jonah 3
1 Then Yahweh said to Jonah again,
Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jonah, the second time, saying:
2 “Go to that great city of Nineveh, and tell them the message that I gave you [previously].”
Arise, get thee unto Nineveh, the great city, —and cry against it the cry that I am bidding thee.
3 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.
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.
4 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}!”
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!
5 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].
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.
6 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].
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.
7 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.
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:
8 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].
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:
9 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.”
Who knoweth whether God himself—may turn and grieve, —and turn away from the glow of his anger, that we perish not?
10 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.
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.
