1 The word of Jehovah came to Jonah a second time:

2 »Arise and go to the great city, Nineveh. Proclaim to it the proclamation I give you.«

3 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Nineveh was a very important and large city, a three days' walk from one side to the other.

4 Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey walking, and he shouted: »Nineveh will be overthrown in Forty days.«

5 The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6 The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes.

7 He made proclamation and published it in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: »Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not eat, nor drink water.

8 »Let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast. Let them sincerely call on God! Let them turn away each one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.

9 »Who knows whether God will turn back and change his mind, and turn away from his fierce anger that we will not perish?«

10 God saw their works! That they turned from their evil way. God turned back from the deed that he said he would do to them. He did not do it.