Jonah, 3

1. And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

1. The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time:

2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

2. "Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you."

3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

3. In obedience to the word of Yahweh, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross 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.

4. So Jonah walked a single day's journey and began proclaiming, "Forty days more and 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.

5. The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

6. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered [him] with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

6. Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.

7. And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published 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:

7. He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink.

8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that [is] in their hands.

8. But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence.

9. Who can tell [if] God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

9. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from his fierce anger and spare us."

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 unto them; and he did [it] not.

10. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened upon them.