| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, | 1The LORD said to Jonah a second time, |
| 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” | 2"Go immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." |
| 3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. | 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!) |
| 4Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” | 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 people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. | 5The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. |
| 6The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his 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. |
| 7And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, | 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. |
| 8but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is 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 and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may 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 what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. | 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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