³ Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast^(A) for all Judah.

³ There is, however, some good^(A) in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles^(B) and have set your heart on seeking God.^(C)”

³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting,^(A) and in sackcloth and ashes.^(B)

⁹ In the ninth month^(A) of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting^(B) before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah.

⁶ When they had assembled at Mizpah,^(A) they drew water and poured^(B) it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader^[a](C) of Israel at Mizpah.

²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One^(A) who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

³ They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress^(A) and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth^(B) and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule^(C) the living God,^(D) and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard.^(E) Therefore pray^(F) for the remnant^(G) that still survives.”

⁵ When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid^(H) of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed^(I) me.

⁵ The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.^(A)

⁶ When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.^{(B) 7} This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: