³ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by ^(A)prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

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

¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord: ^(A)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(B)I will visit you, ^(C)and I will fulfill to you my promise ^(D)and bring you back to this place. ^11 (E)For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[a] and not for evil, ^(F)to give you a future and a hope. ^12 (G)Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^(H)and I will hear you. ^13 (I)You will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^(J)with all your heart.

¹⁶ Therefore, ^(A)confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, ^(B)that you may be healed. ^(C)The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.^{[a] 17} Elijah was a man ^(D)with a nature like ours, and ^(E)he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for ^(F)three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ^18 (G)Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

Nehemiah's Prayer

⁴ As soon as I heard these words I ^(A)sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the ^(B)God of heaven. ⁵ And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, ^(C)the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ^6 (D)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 the people of Israel your servants, ^(E)confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even ^(F)I and my father's house have sinned. ^7 (G)We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules ^(H)that you commanded your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, ^(I)I will scatter you among the peoples, ^9 (J)but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, ^(K)though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them ^(L)to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ ^10 (M)They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. ¹¹ O Lord, ^(N)let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

Now I was ^(O)cupbearer to the king.

¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for ^(A)three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, ^(B)and if I perish, I perish.”^[a]

⁵ And at the ^(A)evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment ^(B)and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees ^(C)and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,

^8 (A)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^(B)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(C)purify your hearts, ^(D)you double-minded. ^9 (E)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (F)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

⁶ Then Ezra withdrew ^(A)from before the house of God and went to the ^(B)chamber of ^(C)Jehohanan the son of ^(D)Eliashib, where he spent the night,^[a] neither ^(E)eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.