Chapter 3

Jonah’s Obedience and the Ninevites’ Repentance. ¹ The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ² Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you. ³ So Jonah set out for Nineveh, in accord with the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an awesomely great city; it took three days to walk through it. ⁴ Jonah began his journey through the city, and when he had gone only a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” ⁵ the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small,^[a] put on sackcloth.^(A)

⁶ When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh:^[b] “By decree of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, no cattle or sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. ⁸ Man and beast alike must be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; they all must turn from their evil way and from the violence of their hands. ^9 [c]Who knows? God may again repent and turn from his blazing wrath, so that we will not perish.”^{(B) 10} When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.