"I beg you," he said, "not to be angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more. What if ten were found there?" And he said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten."
"Since now I have begun," he said, "I will speak to my Lord. What if twenty were found there?" He said, "I will not put to death, for the sake of the twenty."
Then Judah, approaching closer, said confidently: "I beg you, my lord, let your servant speak a word in your ears, and do not be angry with your servant. For you are next to Pharaoh.
Thus says the Lord: In the same way as it is said about a grain found in a cluster, "Do not destroy it, because it is a blessing," so will I act for the sake of my servants, so that I may not destroy the whole.
"Travel the streets of Jerusalem; and gaze, and consider, and seek, in its wide streets. If you can find a man exercising judgment and seeking faith, then I will be forgiving to them.
What God is like you, who takes away iniquity and passes over the sin of the remnant of your inheritance? No longer will he send forth his fury, because he is willing to be merciful.
And again he said to God: "Let not your fury be enkindled against me, if I test once more, seeking a sign in the fleece. I pray that only the fleece may be dry, and all the ground may be wet with dew."