DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
The king of Nineveh. It closes his decree, after he orders his people and animals to fast and put on sackcloth (Jonah 3:9). In the next verse God does change his mind and spares the city (Jonah 3:10).
Why it’s interesting
The ship's captain in chapter 1 hopes the same way: "Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish" (Jonah 1:6). Both foreigners end on the words "so that we do not perish." Neither one claims to know what God will do.
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.