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Nineveh Repents

¹ Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,² "Go to ^(C1)Nineveh the great city and ^(C2)declare to it the message which I am going to tell you."³ So Jonah went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an ^(C1)exceedingly great city, a ^(F1)three days' walk about sixty miles in circumference.⁴ Then on the first day's walk, Jonah ^(F1)began to go through the city, and he ^(C1)called out and said, "Forty days more remain and then Nineveh will be overthrown!"

⁵ The people of Nineveh believed and trusted in God; and they proclaimed a ^(C1)fast and put on sackcloth in penitent mourning, from the greatest even to the least of them.⁶ When word reached the king of Nineveh of Jonah's message from God, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, ^(C1)covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust in repentance.⁷ He issued a ^(C1)proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No man, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat or drink water.⁸ "But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and every one is to ^(C1)call on God earnestly and forcefully that each may ^(C2)turn from his wicked way and from the violence that is in his hands.⁹ "^(C1)Who knows, God may turn in compassion and relent and withdraw His burning anger (judgment) so that we will not perish." ^(VR1)

¹⁰ When God saw their deeds, that they ^(C1)turned from their wicked way, then ^(C2)God had compassion and relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.