³ Then I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.^(A)

³ Call to me, and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.^(A)

¹⁰ For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.^{(A) 11} For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.^{(B) 12} Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.^{(C) 13} When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,^(D)

¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.^{(A) 17} Elijah was a human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.^{(B) 18} Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded its harvest.^(C)

⁴ When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.^{(A) 5} I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,^{(B) 6} let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for your servants, the Israelites, confessing the sins of the Israelites, which we have sinned against you. Both I and my family have sinned.^{(C) 7} We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded Moses your servant.^{(D) 8} Remember the word that you commanded Moses your servant, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,^{(E) 9} but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I have chosen to establish my name.’^{(F) 10} They are your servants and your people whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand.^{(G) 11} O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man!”

At the time, I was cupbearer to the king.^(H)