For you know that ¹  later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, although he sought the blessing ²  with tears.

For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

“I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy ¹  to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ² 

Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ ¹  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ¹  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Therefore I despise myself, ¹  and I repent in dust and ashes!

נ (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, ¹  and let us return to the Lord.

Blow the trumpet ¹  in Zion. Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly!

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

but when one ¹  turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ² 

For this is what the master, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: “If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered; ¹  if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength, ²  but you are unwilling.

Watch ¹  yourselves! If ²  your brother ³  sins, rebuke him. If ⁴  he repents, forgive him.

In his pain ¹  Manasseh ²  asked the Lord his God for mercy ³  and truly ⁴  humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. ⁵ 

On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow. ¹ 

The people ¹  of Nineveh believed in God, ²  and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. ³ 

(Now ¹  all the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, ²  acknowledged ³  God’s justice, because they had been baptized ⁴  with John’s baptism.

For no one is declared righteous before him ¹  by the works of the law, ²  for through the law comes ³  the knowledge of sin.

‘You displayed a sensitive spirit ¹  and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. ²  You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord.

‘You displayed a sensitive spirit ¹  and humbled yourself before God when you heard his words concerning this place and its residents. You humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord.