them. (Jonah 3:5) We go on to read how even the king “arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” He decrees a fast not only for all the people, but for their livestock as well. And he orders the people to pray: “let them call out mightily to God.” His words acknowledge Nineveh’s universal guilt: “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands” (3:6–8). For king and commoner alike, in every neighborhood and in all the social