Jonah got the Ninevites’ attention. No doubt he braced himself for a hostile and violent response. Instead, something remarkable happened. People listened! His words spread like wildfire. Before long, the whole city was talking about Jonah’s prophecy of doom. Jonah’s account tells us: “The men of Nineveh began to put faith in God, and they proceeded to proclaim a fast and to put on sackcloth, from the greatest one of them even to the least one of them.” (Jonah 3:5) Rich and poor, strong and weak, young and old were all caught up in the same repentant spirit. News of this popular movement soon reached the ears of the king.

The king too was struck with godly fear. He rose up from his throne, removed his luxurious robes of state, put on the same rough clothing that his people were wearing, and even “sat down in the ashes.” With his “great ones,” or nobles, he issued a decree turning the fast from a spontaneous popular movement into an official action of state. He ordered that all wear sackcloth, even the domestic animals.c He humbly acknowledged that his people were guilty of badness and violence. He also expressed hope that the true God would soften upon seeing their repentance, saying: “God may . . . turn back from his burning anger, so that we may not perish.”​—Jonah 3:6-9.

Some critics express doubts that such a change of heart could have occurred so quickly among the Ninevites. However, Bible scholars have noted that a movement of that kind was not out of keeping with the superstitious and volatile nature of people of such cultures in ancient times. At any rate, Jesus Christ himself later referred to the repentance of the Ninevites. (Matthew 12:41) He knew what he was talking about, for he had been alive in heaven to witness those events as they unfolded. (John 8:57, 58)