耶和华第二次对约拿说: “你起身前往尼尼微大城,向那里的居民宣告我先前吩咐你的话。” 约拿便照耶和华的吩咐前往尼尼微城。尼尼微城很大,要三天才能走遍。 约拿进城走了一天,宣告说:“再过四十天尼尼微就要毁灭了!” 尼尼微城的人相信了上帝的话,便宣告禁食,所有的人,无论大小贵贱都换上麻衣。 尼尼微王听到这消息后,便走下宝座,脱下王袍,披上麻衣,坐在炉灰中。 王又向全城颁布命令,说:“王和大臣有令,所有的人都必须禁食,牛羊牲畜都不许吃草也不许喝水。 人和牲畜都必须披上麻衣,众人要向上帝恳切呼求,改邪归正,停止作恶。 上帝或许会施怜悯,收回烈怒,使我们不致灭亡,也未可知。” 10 上帝看见他们改邪归正,不再作恶,就怜悯他们,没有像所说的那样毁灭他们。

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

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

This 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] On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The 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.

When 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. Then 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. People 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. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

10 When 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.

Footnotes

  1. 3:3 Hebrew a great city to God, of three days’ journey.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah(A) a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

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. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,(B) “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.(C)

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) 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) 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) 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)