and said to Yirmeyahu the prophet, “We beg you, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to יהוה your Elohim, for all this remnant, for we are few left of many, as your eyes see us.
And the sovereign answered and said to the man of Elohim, “Please appease the face of יהוה your Elohim, and pray for me, that my hand might be restored to me.” And the man of Elohim appeased the face of יהוה, and the sovereign’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before.
“And when you spread out your hands, I hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I do not hear. Your hands have become filled with blood.
It could be that יהוה your Elohim does hear the words of the Raḇshaqĕh, whom his master the sovereign of Ashshur has sent to reproach the living Elohim, and shall rebuke the words which יהוה your Elohim has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their calamity they say, ‘Arise and save us.’
“Please inquire of יהוה on our behalf, for Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel has started fighting against us. It might be that יהוה deals with us according to all His wondrous works, so that he withdraws from us.”
“It could be that they present their supplication before יהוה, and they turn back, each one from his evil way. For great is the displeasure and the wrath that יהוה has spoken against this people.”
“But now, please hear, O my master the sovereign. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Yehonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
And Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign sent Yehuḵal son of Shelemyah, and the priest, Tsephanyahu son of Ma‛asĕyah, to the prophet Yirmeyahu, saying, “Please pray to יהוה our Elohim for us.”
Then Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign sent and had Yirmeyahu the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the House of יהוה. And the sovereign said to Yirmeyahu, “I am asking you a matter. Do not hide a matter from me.”
Then Yoḥanan son of Qarĕaḥ spoke secretly to Geḏalyahu in Mitspah, saying, “Please let me go and strike Yishma‛ĕl son of Nethanyah, without anyone knowing it. Why should he murder you, and so let all the Yehuḏim who are gathered to you be scattered, and the remnant in Yehuḏah perish?”
“For you deceived yourselves when you sent me to יהוה your Elohim, saying, ‘Pray for us to יהוה our Elohim, and according to all that יהוה your Elohim says, so declare to us and we shall do it.’
How she sits, The city once great with people! Like a widow she has become, One great among the nations! A princess among provinces has become a slave!
“But I shall let a few of their men escape from the sword, from scarcity of food, and from pestilence, so that they recount all their abominations among the nations wherever they go. And they shall know that I am יהוה.”
“Also, although they sold themselves among the nations, this time I shall gather them, when they have suffered for a while from the burden of a sovereign, of rulers.
and send wild beasts among you, which shall bereave you of your children. And I shall cut off your livestock, and make you few in number, and your highways shall be deserted.
And it came to be, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said, “O Master יהוה, forgive, I pray! How does Ya‛aqoḇ survive, for he is small?”
“And you shall be left with few men, although you had become as numerous as the stars of the heavens, because you did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim.
“And it shall be, that as יהוה rejoiced over you to do you good and increase you, so יהוה does rejoice over you to destroy you and lay you waste. And you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
And all the people said to Shemu’ĕl, “Pray for your servants to יהוה your Elohim, that we do not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil of asking for ourselves a sovereign.”
And the children of Yisra’ĕl said to Shemu’ĕl, “Do not cease to cry out to יהוה our Elohim for us, that He would save us from the hand of the Philistines.”