Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast(A) 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,(B) and sat in ashes. Then he issued a decree(C) in Nineveh:

By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God.(D) Each must turn from his evil ways(E) and from his wrongdoing.[a] Who knows?(F) God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.(G)

10 God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways(H)—so God relented from the disaster(I) he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:8 Or injustice, or violence

And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least important.[a]

The King’s Proclamation

And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. And he had a proclamation made, and said,

“In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles:

“No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water! And the human beings and the animals must be covered with sackcloth! And they must call forcefully to God, and each must turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his[b] hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn from his blazing anger[c] so that[d] we will not perish.”

10 And God saw their deeds—that they turned from their evil ways—and God changed his mind about the evil that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Jonah 3:5 Literally “to the smallest of them”
  2. Jonah 3:8 Hebrew “their”
  3. Jonah 3:9 Literally “from the heat of his anger”
  4. Jonah 3:9 Hebrew “and”
  5. Jonah 3:10 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation