1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time:
2 Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.
3 So Jonah set out for Nineveh, in accord with the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an awesomely great city; it took three days to walk through it.
4 Jonah began his journey through the city, and when he had gone only a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown,”
5 the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, no cattle or sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.