Jonah 3
1 And the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,
Then the Lord spoke to Jonah for a second time.
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid thee.
“Go immediately to the great city of Nineveh and announce the message I'm giving you.”
3 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
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.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Jonah went into the city, walking for one day, shouting out, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
The people of Nineveh believed in God. They announced a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
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.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and declared through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
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.
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
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.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Who knows? God may change his mind and relent. He may decide not to destroy us in his fierce anger.”
10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do to them; and he did it not.
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.
