“Prayer, once omnipotent, will then be powerless,” says Bridges.59 She adds a fine point to the finality of the judgment by the intensifying parallel, they will look diligently for me (yešaḥarunnî), another metaphorical way of describing their attempt to reach her to save themselves from the dreadful judgment. Etymologically šāḥar (look diligently) means “the reddish light preceding dawn,” hence “seek me early” (KJV). But that meaning cannot be defended from its actual use. It denotes the difficulty
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