“1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the
preaching that I bid thee. 3 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. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a
day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall
be overthrown.”
“5 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. 6
For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne,
and he laid his robe from him, and covered [him] with sackcloth, and sat
in ashes. 7 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: 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry
mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and
from the violence that [is] in their hands. 9 Who can tell [if] God will
turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish
not? 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way;
and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto
them; and he did [it] not.” (Jonah 3:1-10 AV)