ヨナ書 3
1 時に主の言葉は再びヨナに臨んで言った、
This message from the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
2 「立って、あの大きな町ニネベに行き、あなたに命じる言葉をこれに伝えよ」。
“Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”
3 そこでヨナは主の言葉に従い、立って、ニネベに行った。ニネベは非常に大きな町であって、これを行きめぐるには、三日を要するほどであった。
So Jonah started for Nineveh, as the Lord commanded. Now Nineveh was so large a city that it took three days’ journey to cross it.
4 ヨナはその町にはいり、初め一日路を行きめぐって呼ばわり、「四十日を経たらニネベは滅びる」と言った。
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, and he proclaimed, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
5 そこでニネベの人々は神を信じ、断食をふれ、大きい者から小さい者まで荒布を着た。
And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they ordered a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6 このうわさがニネベの王に達すると、彼はその王座から立ち上がり、朝服を脱ぎ、荒布をまとい、灰の中に座した。
And when word came to the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, dressed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 また王とその大臣の布告をもって、ニネベ中にふれさせて言った、「人も獣も牛も羊もみな、何をも味わってはならない。物を食い、水を飲んではならない。
And he made this proclamation and published it in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: People, beast, herd, and flock shall not taste anything; let them not eat nor drink water.
8 人も獣も荒布をまとい、ひたすら神に呼ばわり、おのおのその悪い道およびその手にある強暴を離れよ。
Let both people and animals put on sackcloth and let them cry earnestly to God; let them each turn from their evil ways and from the deeds of violence which they are doing.
9 あるいは神はみ心をかえ、その激しい怒りをやめて、われわれを滅ぼされないかもしれない。だれがそれを知るだろう」。
Who knows? God may relent and avert his fierce anger, so that we may not die.”
10 神は彼らのなすところ、その悪い道を離れたのを見られ、彼らの上に下そうと言われた災を思いかえして、これをおやめになった。
When God saw that they turned from their evil course, he relented the evil which he said he would do to them, and did not do it.
