¹⁶ “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast^(A) for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”^(B)

²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me;^(A) my only aim is to finish the race^(B) and complete the task^(C) the Lord Jesus has given me^(D)—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.^(E)

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

²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.^(A)

Rend Your Heart

¹⁹ For I have chosen him^(A), so that he will direct his children^(B) and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord^(C) by doing what is right and just,^(D) so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”^(E)

⁴ Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,^(A) “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” ⁵ The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.^(B)

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.^{(C) 7} This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites,^(A) in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household,^(B) we will serve the Lord.”^(C)

¹² Be strong,^(A) and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.”^(B)