[Verse 1] The word came again to the prophet once fled: "Arise, go to Nineveh, speak what is said." Three days' great city, one day's journey in: "Yet forty days, and the walls fall for sin." No ornament softened the warning he gave, Yet people believed from the king to the slave. [Refrain] The city repented, The mighty came down. Sackcloth on cattle, Ash on the crown. Who can tell whether mercy may turn? The city repented, And judgment did not burn. [Verse 2] Jonah was angry and left to the east, Built him a shelter to watch for the feast Of fire he expected. A gourd rose by night, Giving him shadow and giving delight. A worm struck the root, and the hot wind arose; Jonah mourned shade more than Nineveh's souls. [Question Chorus] Should not mercy pity a city Where thousands know not left hand from right? Should one man's comfort outweigh the living, The children, the cattle, the lost in the night? The prophet sat angry; The question remained. The city repented, And mercy restrained. [Coda] A warning succeeded beyond Jonah's will. The Lord loved the city the prophet loved ill.