Jonah 3

Chapter 3

Nineveh Repents

¹Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

²“Arise, go to ^aNineveh the great city and ^bproclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”

³So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was ¹an ^aexceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.

⁴Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he ^acried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a ^afast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

⁶When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, ^acovered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ¹ashes.

⁷He issued a ^aproclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.

⁸“But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let ¹men ^acall on God earnestly that each may ^bturn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in ²his hands.

⁹“^aWho knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰When God saw their deeds, that they ^aturned from their wicked way, then ^bGod relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would ¹bring upon them. And He did not do it.