3 ¹ Then the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying, 3 ² "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." 3 ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. 3 ⁴ JONAH began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he cried, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 3 ⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

3 ⁶ Then tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 3 ⁷ And he made 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, 3 ⁸ but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them cry mightily to God; yea, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands. 3 ⁹ Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we perish not?"

3 ¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them; and he did not do it.