| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, | 1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:" |
| 2Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. | 2Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach 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 got up and went to Nineveh according to the LORD's command. Now Nineveh was an extremely large city, a three-day walk. |
| 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. | 4Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, "In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished!" |
| 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 men of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth--from the greatest of them to the least. |
| 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 word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in 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: | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 9Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? | 9Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish. |
| 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. | 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. |
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