Yona 3
1 Neno la Bwana likamjia Yona mara ya pili, akisema,
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 “Ondoka, uende Ninawi, mji ule mkubwa, na uhubiri ujumbe ule ambao nitakuagiza.”
“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give.”
3 Basi Yona akaondoka akaenda Niniawi kwa kutii neno la Bwana. Sasa Ninawi ilikuwa mji mkubwa sana, ilikuwa safari ya siku tatu.
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 akaanza kuingia ndani ya mji, na baada ya safari ya siku, akapaza sauti, akasema, “Katika siku arobaini Ninawi itaangamizwa.”
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 walimwamini Mungu na wakatangaza kufunga. Wote hwakavaa nguo za magunia, kutoka aliyemkubwa hata mdogo.
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 Mapema habari zilimfikia mfalme wa Ninawi. Akasimama kutoka kiti chake cha enzi, akavua vazi lake, akajivika magunia, akaketi katika majivu.
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 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.
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 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.
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 anajua? Mungu anaweza kurejea na kubadili mawazo yake na kuacha ghadhabu 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 akaona yale waliyoyafanya, wakaziacha njia zao mbaya. Kwa hiyo Mungu alibadili mawazo yake juu ya adhabu aliyowaambia angewafanyia, nae hakufanya hivyo.
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.
