1Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: Jnh 1:1

2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh Zph 2:13-15 and preach Jr 1:17; Ezk 2:7 the message that I tell you.”

3So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command.

4Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, 2Kg 18:26-28; Mt 12:41; Lk 11:32 “In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished! ”

5The men of Nineveh believed in God. Or believed God They proclaimed a fast Dn 9:3; Jl 1:14 and dressed in sackcloth — from the greatest of them to the least.

6When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, 1Kg 21:27; Est 4:1-4; Jr 6:26; Ezk 27:30-31 and sat in ashes.

7Then he issued a decree 2Ch 20:3; Ezr 8:21 in Nineveh:

8Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Ps 130:1; Jnh 1:6,14 Each must turn from his evil ways Is 1:16-19; 55:6-7; Jr 18:11 and from the violence Or injustice he is doing. Lit violence in their hands

9Who knows? 2Sm 12:22; Jl 2:14 God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish. Jr 18:7-8

10Then God saw their actions — that they had turned from their evil ways 1Kg 21:27-29; 2Kg 17:13; 2Ch 7:14; Jr 18:11; 31:18 — so God relented from the disaster Ex 32:14; Am 7:3,6 He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it.