Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. {mighty: or, hidden}

For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Confess {your} faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned {certain} days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, {heaviness: or, affliction}

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which {is} not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. {present: Heb. found}

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse {your} hands, {ye} sinners; and purify {your} hearts, {ye} double minded.

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and {when} he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing {was} sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. {humbled: or, afflicted}

When I wept, {and chastened} my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

And she {was} a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served {God} with fastings and prayers night and day.

And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye {even} to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Thou shalt arise, {and} have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet {for} this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do {it} for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;

For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered {him} with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. {full...: Heb. weeks of days}

And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

One {thing} have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. {the beauty: or, the delight}

And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned {certain} days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. {strangers: Heb. strange children}

And whiles I {was} speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. {himself: Heb. his face}

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? {is it} to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes {under him}? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? {a day...: or, to afflict his soul for a day?}

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace {that should come} unto you:

Wherefore I abhor {myself}, and repent in dust and ashes.

He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, {there was} great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. {many...: Heb. sackcloth and ashes were laid under many}

Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore. {wept...: Heb. wept a great weeping}

For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered {him} with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest {between} the cherubims, thou art the God, {even} thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.

Sorrow {is} better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. {Sorrow: or, Anger}

When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house: {in: or, toward}

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send {him} away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: {a fit...: Heb. a man of opportunity}

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured {it} out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and {toward} the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and {when} he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,

Whom, though I were righteous, {yet} would I not answer, {but} I would make supplication to my judge.

And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house; {be put...: or, be smitten} {in: or, toward}

Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.