When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray; ³  we have done evil.’

When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray ³ , we have done evil!’

The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. ¹  For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive ² 

Then Esther again spoke with the king, falling at his feet. She wept and begged him for mercy, that he might nullify the evil of Haman the Agagite which he had intended against the Jews. ¹ 

Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cry for help! Do not ignore my sobbing! ¹  For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land; I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ² 

I have not failed to tell about your justice; ¹  I spoke about your reliability and deliverance; I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. ² 

I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your name, because of your loyal love and faithfulness, for you have exalted your promise above the entire sky. ¹ 

May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ¹  for I trust in you. Show me the way I should go, ²  because I long for you. ³ 

then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, ¹  because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power: ²  go, humble yourself, ³  and appeal firmly ⁴  to your neighbor.

It shatters in pieces like a clay jar, so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ¹  Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ²  to scoop a hot coal from a fire ³  or to skim off water from a cistern.” ⁴ 

You assist ¹  those who delight in doing what is right, ²  who observe your commandments. ³  Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? ⁴ 

No one invokes ¹  your name, or makes an effort ²  to take hold of you. For you have rejected us ³  and handed us over to our own sins. ⁴ 

If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things,” ¹  says the Lord.

I said, ¹  “Lord, you know how I suffer. ²  Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.

They will come back shedding tears of contrition. I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ¹  I will lead them besides streams of water, along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ²  I will do this because I am Israel’s father; Ephraim ³  is my firstborn son.’”

But now please listen, your royal Majesty, ¹  and grant my plea for mercy. ²  Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.” ³ 

‘If you will just stay ¹  in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will firmly plant you. ²  I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you.

Do not give her archers time to string their bows or to put on their coats of armor. ¹  Do not spare any of her young men. Completely destroy ²  her whole army.

א (Alef) Alas! ¹  The Lord ²  has covered Daughter Zion ³  with his anger. ⁴  He has thrown down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he did not protect ⁵  his temple ⁶  when he displayed his anger. ⁷ 

My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ¹  you. ²  For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, ³  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. ⁴  Then you will know that I am the Lord!