| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:" | 1This message from the LORD came to Jonah a second time: |
| 2Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you." | 2"Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." |
| 3So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the LORD's command. Now Nineveh was an extremely large city, a three-day walk. | 3So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh to do what the LORD had ordered. Now Nineveh was a very large city, requiring a three-day journey to cross through it. |
| 4Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, "In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished!" | 4As Jonah started into the city on the first day's journey, he proclaimed the message, "40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!" |
| 5The men of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth--from the greatest of them to the least. | 5The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least important. |
| 6When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. | 6When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his royal garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. |
| 7Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. | 7Then he had this proclamation published throughout Nineveh: "By decree of the king and his nobles: No man or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything, graze, or drink water. |
| 8Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing. | 8Instead, let both man and animal clothe themselves with sackcloth and cry out to God forcefully. Let every person turn from his evil ways and from his tendency to do violence. |
| 9Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish. | 9Who knows but that God may relent, have compassion, and turn from his fierce anger, so that we are not exterminated?" |
| 10Then God saw their actions--that they had turned from their evil ways--so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it. | 10God took note of what they did—that they turned from their evil ways. Because God relented concerning the trouble about which he had warned them, he did not carry it out. |
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