1 This message from the Lord came to Jonah the second time, 2 ‘Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’ 3 So Jonah started for Nineveh, as the Lord commanded. Now Nineveh was so large a city that it took three days’ journey to cross it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, and he proclaimed, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they ordered a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 And when word came to the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, dressed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he made this proclamation and published it in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: People, beast, herd, and flock shall not taste anything; let them not eat nor drink water. 8 Let both people and animals put on sackcloth and let them cry earnestly to God; let them each turn from their evil ways and from the deeds of violence which they are doing. 9 Who knows? God may relent and avert his fierce anger, so that we may not die.’

10 When God saw that they turned from their evil course, he relented the evil which he said he would do to them, and did not do it.