Yona 3
1 Ndipo neno la Bwana likamjia Yona mara ya pili:
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 “Ondoka uende katika mji mkubwa wa Ninawi, ukautangazie ujumbe ninaokupa.”
“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give.”
3 Yona akalitii neno la Bwana naye akaenda Ninawi. Basi Ninawi ulikuwa mji maarufu sana, ilichukua siku tatu kuuzunguka.
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 Siku ya kwanza, Yona aliingia mjini. Akatangaza: “Baada ya siku arobaini Ninawi utaangamizwa.”
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 Watu wa Ninawi wakamwamini Mungu, wakatangaza kufunga, watu wote kuanzia mkubwa sana hadi yule mdogo kabisa, wakavaa nguo za gunia.
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 Habari zilipomfikia mfalme wa Ninawi, aliondoka kwenye kiti chake cha enzi, akavua majoho yake ya kifalme, akajifunika nguo ya gunia kisha akaketi chini mavumbini.
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 Ndipo akatoa tangazo katika Ninawi yote: “Kwa amri ya mfalme na wakuu wake: “Msiruhusu mtu yeyote au mnyama, makundi ya ngʼombe au wanyama wengine wafugwao, kuonja kitu chochote, msiwaruhusu kula wala kunywa.
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 Bali wanadamu na wanyama wafunikwe kwa nguo za gunia. Kila mmoja afanye hima kumwomba Mungu. Waziache njia zao mbaya na udhalimu ulio mikononi mwao.
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 Ni nani ajuaye? Huenda Mungu akaghairi kwa huruma yake akaacha hasira yake kali ili tusiangamie.”
Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do not perish.”
10 Mungu alipoona walivyofanya na jinsi walivyogeuka kutoka njia zao mbaya, akawa na huruma wala hakuleta maangamizi juu yao kama alivyokuwa ameonya.
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.
