lJonah 3:4-10 (NIV) On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty
more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The
Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the
greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When the news 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. 7
Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the
decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or
flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and
beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on
God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who
knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his
fierce anger so that we will not perish."