< Yona 3 >

1 Neno la Bwana likamjia Yona mara ya pili, akisema,
And there is a word of YHWH to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 “Ondoka, uende Ninawi, mji ule mkubwa, na uhubiri ujumbe ule ambao nitakuagiza.”
“Rise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation that I am speaking to you”;
3 Basi Yona akaondoka akaenda Niniawi kwa kutii neno la Bwana. Sasa Ninawi ilikuwa mji mkubwa sana, ilikuwa safari ya siku tatu.
and Jonah rises, and he goes to Nineveh, according to the word of YHWH. And Nineveh has been a great city before God, a journey of three days.
4 Yona akaanza kuingia ndani ya mji, na baada ya safari ya siku, akapaza sauti, akasema, “Katika siku arobaini Ninawi itaangamizwa.”
And Jonah begins to go into the city—a journey of one day—and proclaims and says, “Yet forty days and Nineveh is overturned!”
5 Watu wa Ninawi walimwamini Mungu na wakatangaza kufunga. Wote hwakavaa nguo za magunia, kutoka aliyemkubwa hata mdogo.
And the men of Nineveh believe in God, and proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least,
6 Mapema habari zilimfikia mfalme wa Ninawi. Akasimama kutoka kiti chake cha enzi, akavua vazi lake, akajivika magunia, akaketi katika majivu.
seeing the word comes to the king of Nineveh, and he rises from his throne, and removes his honorable robe from off him, and spreads out sackcloth, and sits on the ashes,
7 Alitoa tangazo ambalo lilsemalo, “katika mji wa Ninawi, kwa mamlaka ya mfalme na wakuu wake, msiruhusu mtu wala mnyama, ng'ombe wala kundi, asionje kitu chochote. Wao wasile wala kunywe maji.
and he cries and says in Nineveh by a decree of the king and his great ones, saying, “Man and beast, herd and flock—do not let them taste anything, do not let them feed, do not even let them drink water;
8 Lakini watu na wanyama wawe wamefunikwa kwa magunia na walie kwa sauti kubwa kwa Mungu. Kila mtu ageuke na kuacha njia yake mbaya na kutoka katika udhalimu uliyopo mikononi mwake.
and let man and beast cover themselves [with] sackcloth, and let them call to God mightily, and let them each turn back from his evil way, and from the violence that [is] in their hands.
9 Nani anajua? Mungu anaweza kurejea na kubadili mawazo yake na kuacha ghadhabu yake kali ili tusiangamie.”
Who knows? He turns back, and God has relented, and has turned back from the heat of His anger, and we do not perish.”
10 Mungu akaona yale waliyoyafanya, wakaziacha njia zao mbaya. Kwa hiyo Mungu alibadili mawazo yake juu ya adhabu aliyowaambia angewafanyia, nae hakufanya hivyo.
And God sees their works, that they have turned back from their evil way, and God relents of the evil that He spoke of doing to them, and He has not done [it].

< Yona 3 >