Jonah 3

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

1The LORD spoke to Jonah again. This was the second time.

2Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

2God said, "Get up. Go to the big city of Nineveh. Tell the people the message I give you."

3So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.

3So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, just as the LORD said. Nineveh was a very big city. It took three days to walk through it.

4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

4Jonah walked into the city for one whole day. He called out loudly, "In forty days, Nineveh will be knocked down!"

Note"Overthrown" means knocked down or destroyed.

5So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

5The people of Nineveh believed God. They said everyone should go without food. They put on rough, scratchy cloth to show they were sorry. Everyone did this, the important people and the ordinary people.

NoteSackcloth was rough, itchy cloth. People wore it to show they were very sad or sorry.

6For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

6The news reached the king of Nineveh. He got up off his royal seat. He took off his fine robe. He put on the rough cloth and sat down in ashes.

7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

7Then the king and his leaders sent out an order for all Nineveh. It said, "No person and no animal may eat anything. That means cows and sheep too. They must not eat or drink."

8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

8"Let people and animals be covered with the rough cloth. Let everyone call out to God with all their strength. Let each person stop doing wrong. Let them stop hurting other people."

9Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

9"Maybe God will change His mind. Maybe He will stop being angry. Then we will not die."

10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

10God saw what they did. He saw that they stopped doing wrong. So God changed His mind about the harm He said He would send. He did not do it.

NoteThe old word "repented" here means God changed His mind about what He had planned to do.