Jona 3
1 Mgbe ahụ, okwu Onyenwe anyị ruru Jona ntị nke ugboro abụọ na-asị,
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 “Bilie, jee nʼobodo ukwu ahụ bụ Ninive, kwusaara ya ozi ahụ m ziri gị.”
“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give.”
3 Jona biliri gaa Ninive dịka okwu nke Onyenwe anyị si dị. Ninive bụ nnọọ obodo dị ukwuu, nke ga-ewe ụbọchị atọ ịga ya gburugburu.
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 Jona malitere ịba nʼobodo ahụ, ma mgbe ọ gara ije otu ụbọchị, o kwusara sị, “Iri ụbọchị anọ ka ọ fọdụrụ tupu alaa Ninive nʼiyi.”
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 Ndị Ninive kwenyeere na Chineke, kpọsaa obubu ọnụ, ha niile site nʼonye ukwu ruo nʼonye nta, onye ọbụla yikwasịrị uwe mkpe.
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 Mgbe akụkọ a rutere eze Ninive ntị, o sitere nʼocheeze ya rituo, wezuga uwe eze ya, yikwasị uwe mkpe, nọkwasịkwa na ntụ.
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 Nke a bụ nkwusa ya nʼime Ninive: Nke a bụ iwu sitere nʼaka eze na ndị a maara aha ha: “Ka mmadụ ọbụla, maọbụ anụmanụ, igwe ehi maọbụ anụ ụlọ ọbụla, ghara idetu ihe ọbụla nʼọnụ, ka ha ghara iri ihe maọbụ ṅụọ mmiri.
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 Kama ka onye ọbụla yiri akwa mkpe, ma mmadụ ma anụmanụ, ka ha kpọkusikwaa Chineke ike, ka ha sikwa nʼụzọ ọjọọ ha chegharịa, sikwa nʼọrụ ọjọọ ha na ime ihe ike ha niile chegharịa.
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 Onye maara? Ma eleghị anya, Chineke ga-ejide oke iwe ya, ma site nʼọmịiko ya wezuga iwe ọkụ ya si otu a mee ka anyị ghara ịla nʼiyi.”
Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do not perish.”
10 Mgbe Chineke hụrụ ihe niile ha mere, na otu ha siri site nʼụzọ ọjọọ ha niile chegharịa, Chineke chegharịrị uche banyere ịla ha nʼiyi. O mekwaghị ka nzube ya ibibi obodo ahụ mezuo.
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.
