then if My people, on whom My name is called, should repent, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, I also will hear from heaven, and I will be merciful to their sins, and I will heal their land.

And when [Asa] heard these words, and the prophesy of Oded the prophet, then he strengthened himself, and cast out the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities which Jeroboam possessed, in Mount Ephraim, and he renewed the altar of the Lord, which was before the temple of the Lord.

And he removed the strange gods, and the graven [image] out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and outside the city.

[If] I shall pronounce a decree upon a nation, or upon a kingdom, to cut them off, and to destroy [them];

and that nation turn from all their sins, then will I relent of the disasters which I purposed to do to them.

I will judge you, O house of Israel, says the Lord, each one according to his way: be converted, and turn from all your ungodliness, and it shall not become to you the punishment of iniquity.

For I desire not the death of him that dies, says the Lord.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God; for the people have fallen through your iniquities.

Assyria shall never save us; we will not mount on horseback; we will no longer say to the works of our hands, Our gods. He who is in you shall pity the orphan.

[ 6:7] that God took it to heart that He had made man upon the earth, and He pondered it deeply.

You the Lord looked upon their affliction, when You heard their petition.

And He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercy.

out of all their affliction; not an ambassador, nor a messenger, but [He H]imself saved them, because He loved them and spared them; He Himself redeemed them, and took them up, and lifted them up all the days of old.

Ephraim is a beloved son, a pleasing child to Me: for because My words are in him, I will surely remember him. Therefore I made haste [to help] him. I will surely have mercy upon him, says the Lord.

How shall I deal with you, O Ephraim? [How] shall I protect you, O Israel? What shall I do with you? I will make you as Adamah, and as Zeboiim; My heart is turned at once, My repentance is powerfully excited.

And he arose and went to his father. But when he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

And as He drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it,

And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as also God in Christ forgave us.

Therefore I was indignant with that generation, and said, 'They go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways.'

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but having been tempted in all [respects] in quite the same way as [we are], yet without sin.