Jonah 3:1-10 NKJV


Jonah 3:1-10 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,

"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you."

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mighty to God, yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Isaiah 58:1-12 "Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they seek My daily, and delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.

'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice?' "in fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.

Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness, You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard of high.

Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD?

"Is this not the fast that I have chosen; To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring froth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' "if you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness.

If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.

The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations, And you shall be called the Repairer of Streets to Dwell In.