For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he threw his robe from him and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water:

but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God; and let each one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger, that we not perish?

So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

And God saw their works, because they turned from their evil way, and he repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did not do it.

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed.

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