But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
And cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn. Prayer without reformation is a mockery of God (Ps. 56:18; Isaiah 58:6). Prayer, on the other hand, must precede true reformation, as we cannot turn to God from our evil way unless God first turns us (Jeremiah 31:18-19).
And from the violence that is in their hands. Violence was Nineveh's monster sin. "Woe to the bloody city; it is all full of lies and robbery: the prey departeth not," is Nahum's account of it (Nahum 3:1). So the Assyrian records are nothing but a dry register of military campaigns, spoliations, and cruelties (Layard, 'Nineveh and Babylon,' 631).