UJona 3
1 Ilizwi leNkosi laselifika kuJona ngokwesibili, lisithi:
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 Sukuma, uye eNineve, lowana umuzi omkhulu, utshumayele kuwo intshumayelo engikutshela yona.
“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give.”
3 UJona wasesukuma, waya eNineve, njengokwelizwi leNkosi. Phela iNineve yayingumuzi omkhulu kakhulu, uhambo lwezinsuku ezintathu.
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 UJona waseqala ukungena emzini, uhambo losuku olulodwa. Wamemeza, wathi: Kusesezinsuku ezingamatshumi amane, khona iNineve izagenqulwa.
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 Abantu beNineve basebekholwa kuNkulunkulu, bamemezela ukuzila ukudla, bagqoka amasaka, kusukela komkhulu wabo kwaze kwaba komncinyane wabo.
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 Ngoba ilizwi lafinyelela enkosini yeNineve; yasisukuma esihlalweni sayo sobukhosi, yakhulula isembatho sayo kuyo, yazimbomboza ngesaka, yahlala emlotheni.
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 Yasimemezela yathi kuyo iNineve ngomthetho wenkosi labakhulu bayo, isithi: Kakungabi lomuntu, kumbe inyamazana, inkomo kumbe imvu, okuzanambitha loba yini; kakungadli, kakunganathi amanzi.
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 Kodwa kakuthi umuntu lenyamazana kwembeswe amasaka, bakhale kuNkulunkulu ngamandla, yebo, baphenduke, ngulowo lalowo endleleni yakhe embi, lodlakeleni olusezandleni zabo.
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 Ngubani owaziyo, uNkulunkulu angaphenduka azisole, aphenduke asuke kukuvutha kolaka lwakhe, ukuze singabhubhi.
Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do not perish.”
10 UNkulunkulu wasebona imisebenzi yabo, ukuthi baphendukile endleleni yabo embi; uNkulunkulu wazisola ngobubi ayethe uzabenza kubo, akaze abenza.
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.
