The words of Cyrus, king of Persia, spoken in the first year of his reign (538 B.C.), make him sound like a convert to Judaism: "All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in...

In Bible times, fervency in prayer was often accompanied by outward expressions of repentance such as beating one's chest, tearing one's garments, and sitting in ashes or putting them on one's head. The most common expression of fervency was fasting....