² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? ^(A)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^(B)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ^(C)relenting from disaster.

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, ^(A)how they turned from their evil way, ^(B)God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? ^(A)Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, ^(B)and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? ^(C)But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”

¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and ^(A)he became impatient over the misery of Israel.

¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, ^(A)the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. ^(B)For the Lord was moved to pity by ^(C)their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.