Jonah 3
1 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah for a second time.
This message from the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
2 “Go immediately to the great city of Nineveh and announce the message I'm giving you.”
‘Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’
3 Jonah did what God told him. He set out and went to Nineveh, a city that was so big it took three days to walk through it.
So Jonah started for Nineveh, as the Lord commanded. Now Nineveh was so large a city that it took three days’ journey to cross it.
4 Jonah went into the city, walking for one day, shouting out, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!”
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, and he proclaimed, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’
5 The people of Nineveh believed in God. They announced a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they ordered a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6 When the news of what was happening reached the king of Nineveh he came down from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
And when word came to the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, dressed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 Then the king and the nobles issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh: “No person, no animal, no herd, and no flock, shall eat or drink anything.
And he made this proclamation and published it in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: People, beast, herd, and flock shall not taste anything; let them not eat nor drink water.
8 Every person and every animal is to wear sackcloth. Everyone is to pray sincerely to God, give up the evil things they do, and stop using violence.
Let both people and animals put on sackcloth and let them cry earnestly to God; let them each turn from their evil ways and from the deeds of violence which they are doing.
9 Who knows? God may change his mind and relent. He may decide not to destroy us in his fierce anger.”
Who knows? God may relent and avert his fierce anger, so that we may not die.’
10 God saw what they had done—that they had given up their evil ways—so he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
When God saw that they turned from their evil course, he relented the evil which he said he would do to them, and did not do it.
