Jonah 3:5-10

Christian Standard Bible

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast^(A) and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least.

⁶ When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth,^(B) and sat in ashes. ⁷ Then he issued a decree^(C) in Nineveh:

By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. ⁸ Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God.^(D) Each must turn from his evil ways^(E) and from his wrongdoing.^{[a] 9} Who knows?^(F) God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.^(G)

¹⁰ God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways^(H)—so God relented from the disaster^(I) he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.