Jonah Preaches at Nineveh

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 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. 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

So the (B)people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 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. (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. 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. (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.

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Footnotes

  1. Jonah 3:3 Exact meaning unknown
  2. Jonah 3:7 Lit. great ones

11 And should I not pity Nineveh, (A)that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons (B)who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

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