Jonah 3

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

1The LORD spoke to Jonah a second time. He said,

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

2'Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Deliver the message I am going to give you.'

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

3So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, just as the LORD had commanded. Now Nineveh was an incredibly large city; it took three days just to walk through it.

4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

4Jonah started into the city and walked for a full day. He shouted out, 'In forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed!'

5And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

5The people of Nineveh believed God’s message. They decided to fast, and everyone from the most important to the least important put on sackcloth to show they were sorry.

6And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the ashes.

7And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;

7The king and his nobles sent out a local decree that said: 'No person or animal—not even the herds or flocks—is allowed to eat anything. Do not let them eat food or drink water.'

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

8'Both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth. Everyone must pray urgently to God. They must turn away from their evil behavior and stop the violence they are doing.'

9Who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

9'Who knows? Maybe God will reconsider and change his mind. Perhaps he will stop being so angry so that we do not die.'

10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them; and he did it not.

10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he changed his mind about the disaster he had planned for them, and he did not destroy them.