Jonah 3

¹Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,

¹⁷Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them.

⁷But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.

³This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey.

²“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”

¹⁴Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”

⁸Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.

²⁸But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.

¹⁰The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.

³So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated.

²²When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

⁷At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.

⁸But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.

¹In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

¹⁰When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

⁶I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”

³²The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.

³So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁴¹The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

¹³So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

³Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the Lord. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.

¹⁴Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

⁶But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

¹When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

²But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.

⁸And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.

³So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

¹³Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

³⁰They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.

³¹They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.

³Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the Lord. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.

¹⁵Blow the ram’s horn in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a sacred assembly.

¹⁶Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

¹⁸How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

⁵And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.

²¹And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.

²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

⁶Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.

⁶Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

⁶The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁴So they cried out to the Lord: “Please, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life! Do not charge us with innocent blood! For You, O Lord, have done as You pleased.”

²¹But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.

²²None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. Because of the righteousness he has practiced, he will live.

¹⁹Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,

²²David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’

¹³So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

¹⁴Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him—grain and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

⁴⁵And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

⁶The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁸I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

¹⁵Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

⁸But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.

²⁷When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly.

²⁸Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:

¹⁴So the Lord relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

⁶So the Lord relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

²⁰So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.