Jonah 3

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah^a a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,^b “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.^c

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.^d Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.^e But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call^f urgently on God. Let them give up^g their evil ways^h and their violence.ⁱ Who knows?^j God may yet relent^k and with compassion turn^l from his fierce anger^m so that we will not perish.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relentedⁿ and did not bring on them the destruction^o he had threatened.^p