¹⁸ Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no entertainment was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.^(A)

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2 In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed such dreams that his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.^(A)

The King Honors Mordecai

6 On that night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of records, the annals, and they were read to the king.^(A)

¹⁶ David therefore pleaded with God for the child; David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.^{(A) 17} The elders of his house stood beside him urging him to rise from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.

³ So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. ⁴ Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.^(A)

⁶ When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.^{(B) 7} Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water.^{(C) 8} Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.^{(D) 9} Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”^(E)