²⁶ Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went back to Bethel and wept, sitting there before the Lord; they fasted that day until evening. Then they offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being before the Lord.^(A)

^23 [a]The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until the evening, and they inquired of the Lord, “Shall we again draw near to battle against our kinsfolk the Benjaminites?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”^(A)

God’s Response and Promise

⁴ Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.^(A)

Ezra’s Prayer

⁵ At the evening sacrifice I got up from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle torn, and fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the Lord my God,^(B)

Fasting and Prayer for Protection

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the River Ahava, that we might humble ourselves^[a] before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions.^(A)

¹⁸ The Israelites proceeded to go up to Bethel, where they inquired of God, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the Benjaminites?” And the Lord answered, “Judah shall go up first.”^(A)

⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.^(A)

⁶ When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.^{(B) 7} Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water.^{(C) 8} Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.^{(D) 9} Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”^(E)

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.^(F)

³ Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.^(A)