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Jonah 3
New King James Version
Jonah 3
New King James Version
Jonah Preaches at Nineveh
3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, [a]a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then (A)he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
The People of Nineveh Believe
5 So the (B)people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth (C)and sat in ashes. 7 (D)And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his [b]nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, (E)let every one turn from his evil way and from (F)the violence that is in his hands. 9 (G)Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10 (H)Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Jonah 3
New American Standard Bible
Jonah 3
New American Standard Bible
Nineveh Repents
3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to (A)Nineveh, the great city, and (B)proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” 3 So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was [a]an (C)exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he (D)cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a (E)fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his robe from himself, (F)covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the [b]dust. 7 And he issued a (G)proclamation, and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: No person, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat, or drink water. 8 But every person and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and people are to (H)call on God vehemently, and they are to (I)turn, each one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hands. 9 (J)Who knows, God may turn and relent, and turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw their deeds, that they (K)turned from their evil way, then (L)God relented of the disaster which He had declared He would [c]bring on them. So He did not do it.
Footnotes
- Jonah 3:3 Lit a great city to God
- Jonah 3:6 Or ashes
- Jonah 3:10 Lit do to
Jonah 3
Amplified Bible
Jonah 3
Amplified Bible
Nineveh Repents
3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Go to Nineveh the great city and declare to it the message which I am going to tell you.” 3 So Jonah went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a [a]three days’ walk [about sixty miles in circumference]. 4 Then on the first day’s walk, Jonah [b]began to go through the city, and he called out and said, “Forty days more [remain] and [then] Nineveh will be overthrown!”
5 The people of Nineveh believed and trusted in God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth [in penitent mourning], from the greatest even to the least of them. 6 When word reached the king of Nineveh [of Jonah’s message from God], he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust [in repentance]. 7 He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No man, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat or drink water. 8 But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and every one is to call on God earnestly and forcefully that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows, God may turn [in compassion] and relent and withdraw His burning anger (judgment) so that we will not perish.”(A)
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God [had compassion and] relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
Footnotes
- Jonah 3:3 It is usually assumed that the “three days’ walk” was the distance equal to the circumference of the walled city, but it would also include the open fields, farms, and villages that would have been considered the territory of Nineveh. In fact, a significant portion of what was considered an ancient city’s population typically were farmers who lived outside the city, and only left their farms for the protection of the city when an invading army threatened to attack. For another explanation of the distance, see note v 4.
- Jonah 3:4 Even though it probably would not have taken Jonah long merely to walk from one end of the city to another, to reach the entire population of more than 120,000, Jonah undoubtedly had to work his way through countless streets and alleys. The term “day’s walk” here and in v 3 does not occur elsewhere in Scripture, so perhaps it refers to the time required to visit every part of the city rather than to walk the circumference (see note v 3).
Jonah 3
New International Version
Jonah 3
New International Version
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah(A) a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3 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. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,(B) “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.(C)
6 When Jonah’s warning 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) 7 This is the proclamation he issued 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) 8 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) 9 Who knows?(J) God may yet relent(K) and with compassion turn(L) from his fierce anger(M) so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented(N) and did not bring on them the destruction(O) he had threatened.(P)
Jonah 3
King James Version
Jonah 3
King James Version
3 And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.