₁Once again the LORD spoke to Jonah. ₂He said, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to the people the message I have given you.” ₃So Jonah obeyed the LORD and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to walk through it. ₄Jonah started through the city, and after walking a whole day, he proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!”

₅The people of Nineveh believed God's message. So they decided that everyone should fast, and all the people, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth to show that they had repented.

₁₀God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behaviour. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.