Jonah 3:1-4:4

New Living Translation

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: ²“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”

³This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.^[a] ⁴On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” ⁵The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

⁶When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. ⁷Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:

“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. ⁸People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. ⁹Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

¹⁰When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Mercy

4 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. ²So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. ³Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

⁴The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”