Jonah’s Preaching

1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:a 2“Get up! Go to the great city of Ninevehb and preachc the message that I tell you.” 3So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the LORD’s command.

Now Nineveh was an extremely large city,d, e a three-day walk.f 4Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed,g “In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished! ” 5The men of Nineveh believed in God.h They proclaimed a fasti and dressed in •sackcloth — from the greatest of them to the least.

6When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth,j and sat in ashes. 7Then he issued a decreek in Nineveh:

By order of the king and his nobles: No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. 8Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God.l Each must turn from his evil waysm and from the violencen he is doing.o 9Who knows?p God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.q

10Then God saw their actions — that they had turned from their evil waysr — so God relented from the disasters He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it.