Jonah 3

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3A message came to Jonah from the Lord a second time. He said, ²“Go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce to its people the message I give you.”

³Jonah obeyed the Lord. He went to Nineveh. It was a very important city. In fact, it took about three days to see all of it. ⁴On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He announced, “In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.”

⁵The people of Nineveh believed God’s warning. They decided not to eat any food for a while. All of them put on black clothes. That’s what everyone from the least important of them to the most important did.

⁶The news reached the king of Nineveh. He got up from his throne. He took his royal robes off and dressed himself in black clothes. He sat down in the dust. ⁷Then he sent out a message to the people of Nineveh. He said,

“I and my nobles give this order.

“Don’t let any person or animal taste anything. That includes your herds and flocks. People and animals must not eat or drink anything. ⁸Let people and animals alike be covered with black cloth. All of you must call out to God with all your hearts. Stop doing what is evil. Don’t harm others. ⁹Who knows? God might take pity on us. He might turn away from his burning anger. Then we won’t die.”

¹⁰God saw what they did. They stopped doing what was evil. So he took pity on them. He didn’t destroy them as he had said he would.