As so often in Old Testament narratives, there is no specific mention of the order being carried out. But God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. God’s threat in verse 4 is thus seen to be a conditional one, depending on human response and behavior, as Gen 18.7, 8 makes clear. Presumably the result of Nineveh’s repentance could only be known for certain when the “forty days” of verse 4 had expired.

What they did must refer to the fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, and the earnest prayers of the people of Nineveh. It may be important to make this rather explicit by saying “God saw what the people of Nineveh were doing” or even “… how they had changed.”

Had given up their wicked behavior may be expressed as “were no longer doing sinful things” or “were no longer doing what was bad.” The verb translated here given up is the same as is used of God changing his mind in Verse 9.

Did not punish them must be expressed in some languages as “did not cause them to suffer” or, in a somewhat idiomatic form, “did not pay them back for their badness” (literally, “did not do it”).

The clause as he had said he would must be expanded somewhat in some languages because of the embedded direct discourse; for example, “as he had said, ‘I will punish them’ ” or even “as he had said through Jonah, ‘The city will be destroyed.’ ”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Jonah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .