| King James Bible | NET Bible |
| 1And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, | 1The LORD said to Jonah a second time, |
| 2Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. | 2"Go immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." |
| 3So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' 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!) |
| 4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, 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!" |
| 5So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even 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. |
| 6For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him 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 caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor 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 cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their 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 can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? | 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." |
| 10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. | 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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