When he killed them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
O Lord, in distress they sought you, they poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.
The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.
O inhabitant of Lebanon, nested among the cedars, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain as of a woman in labor!
I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. In their distress they will beg my favor:
They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; they gash themselves for grain and wine; they rebel against me.
The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.