CHAPTER 3
This time Jonah
got up
and went
to
Nineveh
in accordance with the word
of the LORD.
Now Nineveh
was
an exceedingly
great
city,
a three-day
journey to cross.
On the first
day
of his walk,
Jonah
set out
into the city
and proclaimed,
“Forty
more
days
and Nineveh
will be overturned!”
And the Ninevites
believed
God.
They proclaimed
a fast
and dressed
in sackcloth,
from the greatest
of them to
the least.
When word
reached
the king
of Nineveh,
he got up
from his throne,
took off
his royal robe,
covered himself
with sackcloth,
and sat
in
ashes.
Then he issued a proclamation
in Nineveh:
“By the decree
of the king
and his nobles:
Let no
man
or beast,
herd
or flock,
taste
anything at all.
They must not
eat
or drink.
Furthermore, let both man
and beast
be covered
with sackcloth,
and have everyone call out
earnestly
to
God.
Let each one
turn
from
his evil
ways
and from the violence
in his hands.
Who
knows?
God
may turn
and relent;
He may turn
from His fierce
anger,
so that we will not
perish.”
When God
saw
their actions—
that
they had turned
from their evil
ways—
He
relented
from
the disaster
He had threatened
to bring
upon them.