³⁰ When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.

² and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and all your soul^(A) by doing^[a] everything I am commanding you today,

⁶ So the couriers^(A) went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the hand of the king and his officials, and according to the king’s command, saying, “Israelites, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel so that he may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped the grasp of the kings of Assyria.^(B)

⁹ for when you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land.^(A) For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful;^(B) he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.”

³ So tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Return to me—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and I will return to you, says the Lord of Armies.^(A)