Jonah 3
Expanded Bible
God Calls and Jonah Obeys
3 The ·Lord spoke his word [L word of the Lord came] to Jonah ·again [a second time] and said, 2 “Get up, go to the great city Nineveh [1:2], and ·preach [cry out] to it what I tell you to say.”
3 So Jonah obeyed the Lord and got up and went to Nineveh. It was a very large city; just to walk ·across it [or through it all] took a person three days. 4 After Jonah had entered the city and walked for one day, he preached to the people, saying, “After forty days, Nineveh will be ·destroyed [overthrown]!”
5 The people of Nineveh believed God. They ·announced that they would fast [called for/decreed a fast], and they put on ·rough cloth [burlap; sackcloth; C to show their sorrow and repentance]. All the people in the city did this, from the ·most important to the least important [L greatest to the least].
6 When the king of Nineveh heard this news, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, and covered himself with ·rough cloth [burlap; sackcloth] and sat in ashes [C to show sorrow and repentance].
7 He ·sent this announcement [issued a proclamation] through Nineveh:
By ·command [the decree] of the king and his ·important men [nobles]: No person or animal, herd or flock, will be allowed to taste anything. Do not let them eat food or drink water. 8 But every person and animal should be covered with ·rough cloth [burlap; sackcloth], and people should ·cry loudly [pray earnestly] to God. Everyone must turn away from evil living and stop doing ·harm [violence] all the time. 9 Who knows? Maybe God will ·change his mind [relent]. Maybe he will ·stop being angry [turn from his fierce anger], and then we will not ·die [perish].
10 When God saw what the people did, that they stopped doing evil, he ·changed his mind [relented] and did not carry out the ·destruction [disaster; punishment] he had threatened.
Jonah 3
EasyEnglish Bible
Jonah goes to Nineveh
3 The Lord spoke to Jonah a second time. 2 He said, ‘Now go to that great city, Nineveh. Tell the people there the message that I will give to you.’
3 Jonah obeyed the Lord and he went to Nineveh.
Nineveh was a very large city. Somebody would need three days to walk all through it.
4 When Jonah arrived in Nineveh, he walked for one day into the city. Then he shouted out to the people, ‘After 40 more days, God will destroy Nineveh.’[a]
5 The people who lived in Nineveh believed God's message. They told everyone that they must not eat any food for several days. Everyone had to wear sackcloth to show that they were sorry. The most important people and the ordinary people all did that.
6 The king of Nineveh heard about God's message. He got up from his throne and he removed his royal clothes. He dressed himself in sackcloth and he sat in ashes on the ground.
7 Then the king sent this message to all the people in Nineveh. He said, ‘This command comes from the king and his officers. No person or any of your animals may eat any food or drink any water. 8 Everyone must wear sackcloth. You must cover all your animals with sackcloth too. Everyone must pray to God with all their strength. You must all stop doing bad and cruel things. 9 Then perhaps God may agree to forgive us. He may decide that he will not be angry with us. Then perhaps we will not all die.’
10 God saw what the people in Nineveh did. He saw that they stopped doing evil things. He had said that he would punish them for their sins. But now he decided that he would not destroy them.
Footnotes
- 3:4 Jonah may have said more than these few words when he spoke God's message to the people in Nineveh.
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