Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people approached him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly.

“Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

“No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, and He did not destroy him completely. Indeed, conditions were good in Judah.

The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.

And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its people, and because you have humbled yourself before Me and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, and the people wept bitterly as well.

Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more.

If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?

Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?