¹⁵ Even if my cause was good, I would not be able to give an answer; I would make request for grace from him who was against me.

¹⁵ That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble.

⁵ If you will make search for God with care, and put your request before the Ruler of all;

²³ To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips; but he put himself into the hands of the judge of righteousness:

⁴ For I am not conscious of any wrong in myself; but this does not make me clear, for it is the Lord who is my judge.

¹⁸ O my God, let your ear be turned and give hearing; let your eyes be open and see how we have been made waste and the town which is named by your name: for we are not offering our prayers before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercies.

³ And turning my face to the Lord God, I gave myself up to prayer, requesting his grace, going without food, in haircloth and dust.

⁹ They will come with weeping, and going before them I will be their guide: guiding them by streams of water in a straight way where there is no falling: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is the first of my sons.

³¹ ...

³² ...

⁷ There an upright man might put his cause before him; and I would be free for ever from my judge.

²⁷ You will make your prayer to him, and be answered; and you will give effect to your oaths.

² I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.

⁸ But as for me, I would make my prayer to God, and I would put my cause before him:

¹³ And made prayer to him; and in answer to his prayer God let him come back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was certain that the Lord was God.

³⁸ Whatever prayer or request for your grace is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, whatever his trouble may be, whose hands are stretched out to this house:

³⁹ Give ear in heaven your living-place, acting in mercy; and give to every man whose secret heart is open to you, the reward of all his ways; for you, and you only, have knowledge of the hearts of all the children of men: