¹⁷ In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy^(A) and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear^(B) of the Jews had seized them.^(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)

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)