Jonah 3
1 And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jonah a second time, saying,
Then Yahweh said to Jonah again,
2 'Rise, go unto Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim unto it the proclamation that I am speaking unto thee;'
“Go to that great city of Nineveh, and tell them the message that I gave you [previously].”
3 and Jonah riseth, and he goeth unto Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. And Nineveh hath been a great city before God, a journey of three days.
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 beginneth to go in to the city a journey of one day, and proclaimeth, and saith, 'Yet forty days — and Nineveh is overturned.'
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 And the men of Nineveh believe in God, and proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even unto their least,
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 seeing the word doth come unto the king of Nineveh, and he riseth from his throne, and removeth his honourable robe from off him, and spreadeth out sackcloth, and sitteth on the 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 crieth and saith in Nineveh by a decree of the king and his great ones, saying, 'Man and beast, herd and flock — let them not taste anything, let them not feed, even water let them not drink;
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 and cover themselves [with] sackcloth let man and beast, and let them call unto God mightily, and let them turn back each 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 knoweth? He doth turn back, and God hath repented, and hath turned back from the heat of His anger, and we do not perish.'
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 seeth their works, that they have turned back from their evil way, and God repenteth of the evil that He spake of doing to them, and he hath not done [it].
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.
