Yona 3
1 Yawe alobaki na Yona na mbala ya mibale:
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 — Telema, kende na Ninive, engumba monene, mpe sakola kuna maloba oyo nakopesa yo.
“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give.”
3 Yona atosaki Liloba na Yawe; atelemaki mpe akendeki na Ninive. Nzokande Ninive ezalaki engumba moko ya monene na miso ya Nzambe; esengelaki kosala mikolo misato mpo na kosilisa kotambola kati na yango.
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 Yona abandaki mosala na ye, atambolaki mokolo mobimba kati na engumba; azalaki kosakola: — Etikali mikolo tuku minei mpo ete engumba ya Ninive ebebisama nye!
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 Bato ya Ninive bandimelaki Nzambe; bazwaki mokano ya kokila bilei mpe ya kolata basaki, kobanda na oyo aleki na bozwi kino na oyo aleki na bobola.
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 Tango sango yango ekomaki epai ya mokonzi ya Ninive, atelemaki longwa na kiti na ye ya bokonzi, alongolaki bilamba na ye ya bokonzi, alataki saki mpe amivandisaki na putulu.
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 Apesaki mitindo ete bapanza sango oyo na Ninive: « Na mitindo ya mokonzi mpe ya bakalaka na ye, Epekisami na bato mpe na bibwele, ezala ngombe, meme to ntaba; epekisami kolia biloko nyonso mpe komela mayi.
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 Tika ete bato mpe bibwele balata basaki, babelela Nzambe makasi. Tika ete moko na moko atika nzela na ye ya mabe mpe mobulu oyo ekangami ye na maboko.
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 Nani ayebi? Tango mosusu Nzambe akobongola makanisi, akolongola kanda mpe akozongisa motema sima mpo ete tokufa te. »
Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do not perish.”
10 Tango Nzambe amonaki makambo oyo basalaki mpe ndenge batikaki banzela na bango ya mabe, abongolaki makanisi na Ye mpe atindelaki bango lisusu te etumbu oyo akanaki kopesa bango.
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.
