Thematic Bible: Humiliation and self-affliction

However, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, search for me, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear their prayer from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their country. Verse ConceptsForgiveness, DivineFellowship, In The GospelFace Of GodEarnestnessAssurance, nature ofGospel, Requirements OfHumilityPrayer, Advice For EffectivePrayer, God's Promises ConcerningReformationRenunciationRevival, Nature OfSearchingSeeking GodSin, Deliverance From GodPenitencePrayer, Offered WithSpiritual AdoptionRepentanceConfessionGod Healing Our LandBeing HumbleHumble Yourselfhumblenesshumble

Then I gave orders for a time of going without food, there by the Ahava River, so that we might make ourselves low before our God in prayer, requesting from him a safe journey for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. I would not make request to the king for a band of armed men and horsemen to give us help against those who might attack us on the way. We said to the king: The hand (power) (protection) of our God is on his servants for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who have turned away from him. So we went without food, requesting our God for this: and his ear was open to our prayer.

Jehovah spoke to Moses: The tenth day of this seventh month is a special day for the payment for sins. There will be a holy assembly. Humble yourselves, and bring Jehovah a sacrifice by fire. Do not do any work that day. It is a special day for the payment for sins. It is a time when you pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah your God. read more.
Those who do not humble themselves on that day will be excluded from the people. I will destroy those who do any work on that day. Do not do any work! It is a long lasting law for generations to come wherever you live. It is a day of worship (sabbath), a day when you do not work. Humble yourselves starting on the evening of the ninth day of the month. From that evening to the next, observe the day of worship.

The following regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month the Israelites and the foreigners living among them must fast and must not do any work. On that day the ritual is to be performed to purify them from all their sins, so that they will be ritually clean. That day is to be a very holy day, one on which they fast and do no work at all. These regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come.