¹Then the Lord spoke his word to Jonah a second time. He said, ²“Leave at once for the important city, Nineveh. Announce to the people the message I have given you.”

³Jonah immediately went to Nineveh as the Lord told him. Nineveh was a very large city. It took three days to walk through^ait. ⁴Jonah entered the city and walked for about a day. Then he said, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.”

⁵The people of Nineveh believed God. They decided to fast, and everyone, from the most important to the least important, dressed in sackcloth.

⁶When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷Then he made this announcement and sent it throughout the city:

“This is an order from the king and his nobles: No one is to eat or drink anything. This includes all people, animals, cattle, and sheep. ⁸Every person and animal must put on sackcloth. Cry loudly to God for help. Turn from your wicked ways and your acts of violence. ⁹Who knows? God may reconsider his plans and turn from his burning anger so that we won’t die.”

¹⁰God saw what they did. He saw that they turned from their wicked ways. So God reconsidered his threat to destroy them, and he didn’t do it.

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Footnotes

a 3:3 Or “around.”