1AND the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it the proclamation which I tell you. 3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city in the presence of God, of three days journey. 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.

5So the people of Nineveh believed in God and decreed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least. 6And when the news reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne and took off his crown from his head and covered himself with sackcloth and sat 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 men nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water; 8But let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth and cry to God with groaning; yea, let every man turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who knows if God will return and have mercy upon us, and remove from us his fierce anger, that we may perish not?

10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways; he turned away from them his fierce anger, and he did not destroy them.