⁴ When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.^(A) For some days I mourned and fasted^(B) and prayed before the God of heaven.

¹⁸ He urged them to plead for mercy^(A) from the God of heaven^(B) concerning this mystery,^(C) so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.