1A second time the word of the LORD came to Jonah:
2“Go to the great city of Nineveh; go and denounce it in the words I give you.”
3Jonah obeyed and went at once to Nineveh. It was a vast city, three days' journey across,
4and Jonah began by going a day's journey into it. Then he proclaimed: “In forty days Nineveh will be overthrown!”
5The people of Nineveh took to heart this warning from God; they declared a public fast, and high and low alike put on sackcloth.
6When the news reached the king of Nineveh he rose from his throne, laid aside his robes of state, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7He had this proclamation made in Nineveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, neither man nor beast is to touch any food; neither herd nor flock may eat or drink.
8Every person and every animal is to be covered with sackcloth. Let all pray with fervour to God, and let them abandon their wicked ways and the injustice they practise.
9It may be that God will relent and turn from his fierce anger: and so we shall not perish.”
10When God saw what they did and how they gave up their wicked ways, he relented and did not inflict on them the punishment he had threatened.
