| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: | 1The LORD said to Jonah a second time, |
| 2"Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." | 2"Go immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." |
| 3Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. | 3So Jonah went immediately to Nineveh, as the LORD had said. (Now Nineveh was an enormous city--it required three days to walk through it!) |
| 4Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." | 4When Jonah began to enter the city one day's walk, he announced, "At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!" |
| 5The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. | 5The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. |
| 6When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. | 6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. |
| 7This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. | 7He issued a proclamation and said, "In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water. |
| 8But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. | 8Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they do. |
| 9Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." | 9Who knows? Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we might not die." |
| 10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. | 10When God saw their actions--they turned from their evil way of living!--God relented concerning the judgment he had threatened them with and he did not destroy them. |
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