“By decree of the king and his nobles:

No man or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything, graze, or drink water. ⁸ Instead, let both man and animal clothe themselves with sackcloth and cry out to God forcefully. Let every person turn from his evil ways and from his tendency to do violence.^{[a] 9} Who knows but that God may relent, have compassion, and turn from his fierce anger, so that we are not exterminated?”