| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, | 1Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: |
| 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” | 2“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” |
| 3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. | 3This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. |
| 4Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” | 4On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” |
| 5And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. | 5The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. |
| 6The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. | 6When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. |
| 7And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, | 7Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. |
| 8but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. | 8People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. |
| 9Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” | 9Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” |
| 10When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. | 10When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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