The Ninevites Repent
(Matthew 12:38–42; Luke 11:29–32)

1And the word of YHWH came to Jonah a second time, saying: 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out to it the message that I am speaking to you.”

3And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of YHWH.

And Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,† a journey of three days. 4And Jonah began to come into the city, a walk of one day, and he called out and said: “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overturned!”

5And the people of Nineveh trusted in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6And this word reached to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and passed off his royal clothing from him, and he covered himself with sackcloth and sat upon the ashes.

7And he cried out and spoke in Nineveh: By the determination of the king and his nobles, saying:

“The man and the beast, the herd and the flock, let them not taste anything, and let them not graze, and let them not drink water. 8And let them be covered with sackcloth, the man and the beast, and call out to God with strength; and each man must turn back from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who knows? God may turn back and relent, and turn back from the burning of His anger, so that we should not perish!”

10And God saw their deeds, that they turned back from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that He had said to do to them, and He did not do it.