You treat us as though you had never been our ruler, as though we had never been your people.

listen to your people's prayers. If there in that land they repent and pray to you, confessing how sinful and wicked they have been, hear their prayers, O LORD.

then listen to their prayers. In your home in heaven hear them and be merciful to them and forgive all the sins of your people.

In his suffering he became humble, turned to the LORD his God, and begged him for help.

God accepted Manasseh's prayer and answered it by letting him go back to Jerusalem and rule again. This convinced Manasseh that the LORD was God.

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.

"But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me,

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,

There you will look for the LORD your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.

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

"I have now given you a choice between a blessing and a curse. When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you.

then the LORD your God will have mercy on you. He will bring you back from the nations where he has scattered you, and he will make you prosperous again.

so that you may again take possession of the land where your ancestors once lived. And he will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors ever were.

Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign LORD, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing. Why do you want to die?

Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom!

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

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,

I have not spoken in secret or kept my purpose hidden. I did not require the people of Israel to look for me in a desolate waste. I am the LORD, and I speak the truth; I make known what is right."

Let us examine our ways and turn back to the LORD.

Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,

You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.

Turn to the LORD and pray to him, now that he is near.

Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the LORD, our God; he is merciful and quick to forgive.

The LORD says to his people, "I will come to Jerusalem to defend you and to save all of you that turn from your sins.

When someone evil stops sinning and does what is right and good, he saves his life.

And you Israelites say, 'What the Lord does isn't right.' You think my way isn't right, do you? It is your way that isn't right.

O LORD, listen to them in heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O LORD, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession.

hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven and forgive them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each of us as we deserve,

then listen to their prayers. In your home in heaven hear them and be merciful to them and forgive all the sins of your people.

You have made the land tremble, and you have cut it open; now heal its wounds, because it is falling apart.

Is there no medicine in Gilead? Are there no doctors there? Why, then, have my people not been healed?

But I will heal this city and its people and restore them to health. I will show them abundant peace and security.

Foreigners living there said, 'We tried to help Babylonia, but it was too late. Let's leave now and go back home. God has punished Babylonia with all his might and has destroyed it completely.' "