When his troubles were at their worst, that man Ahaz sinned against the LORD more than ever.

The few of you who survive in the land of your enemies will waste away because of your own sin and the sin of your ancestors.

and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion,

When you are in trouble and all those things happen to you, then you will finally turn to the LORD and obey him.

He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.

"I hear the people of Israel say in grief, ' LORD, we were like an untamed animal, but you taught us to obey. Bring us back; we are ready to return to you, the LORD our God.

"Israel, you are my dearest child, the one I love best. Whenever I mention your name, I think of you with love. My heart goes out to you; I will be merciful.

"I will abandon my people until they have suffered enough for their sins and come looking for me. Perhaps in their suffering they will try to find me."

It is wise to fear the LORD. He calls to the city, "Listen, you people who assemble in the city!

He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.

I will get up and go to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against God and against you.

Everything else that Manasseh did, the prayer he made to his God, and the messages of the prophets who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

The king's prayer and God's answer to it, and an account of the sins he committed before he repented---the evil he did, the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah that he made and the idols that he worshiped---are all recorded in The History of the Prophets.

Call to me when trouble comes; I will save you, and you will praise me."

The Lord said to him, "Get ready and go to Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying,

Because King Ahaz sinned, the LORD his God let the king of Syria defeat him and take a large number of Judeans back to Damascus as prisoners. The LORD also let the king of Israel, Pekah son of Remaliah, defeat Ahaz and kill 120,000 of the bravest Judean soldiers in one day. The LORD, the God of their ancestors, permitted this to happen, because the people of Judah had abandoned him.

The king's prayer and God's answer to it, and an account of the sins he committed before he repented---the evil he did, the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah that he made and the idols that he worshiped---are all recorded in The History of the Prophets.

But unlike his father, he did not become humble and turn to the LORD; he was even more sinful than his father had been.

Finally, however, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem humbled themselves, and so the LORD did not punish the people until after Hezekiah's death.

So Moses and Aaron went to the king and said to him, "The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says, 'How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

I tell you," said Jesus, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."

Some people brought their babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. The disciples saw them and scolded them for doing so,

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

In the same way you younger people must submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you must put on the apron of humility, to serve one another; for the scripture says, "God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble."

Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time.