3:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

3:2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."

3:3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city--a visit required three days.

3:4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."

3:5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

3:6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.

3:7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.

3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.

3:9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."

3:10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.