Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: | 1The LORD said to Jonah a second time, |
2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.” | 2"Go immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." |
3This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey. | 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!) |
4On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!” | 4When Jonah began to enter the city one day's walk, he announced, "At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!" |
5And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. | 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 word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. | 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. |
7Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not 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. |
8Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. | 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 turn and relent; He may 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 their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them. | 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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