1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go tolSee ch. 1:2 Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. ” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Nowl[See ver. 2 above] Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.2Or a visit was a three days' journey 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! ” 5 m[Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:32] And the people of Nineveh believed God.nSee 2 Chr. 20:3 They called for a fast andoSee 2 Sam. 3:31 put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
6 The word reached1Or had reached the king of Nineveh, andp[Job 1:20; Ezek. 26:16] he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth,qJob 2:8 and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh,r[Dan. 6:26] “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nors[ch. 4:11; Ps. 36:6; Joel 1:18, 20] beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man ands[See ver. 7 above] beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God.tJer. 18:11; 36:3 Let everyone turn from his evil way and fromuIsa. 59:6 the violence that is in his hands. 9 v2 Sam. 12:22; Joel 2:14 Who knows? God may turn and relentwPs. 85:3 and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish. ”
10 When God saw what they did,x[Jer. 18:8] how they turned from their evil way,x[Jer. 18:8] God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.