And he said, while the child was yet alive,.... And so there was hope it might be continued:I fasted and wept; or sought the Lord by prayer, and fasting, and weeping, that the threatening might not take place, that the child's life might be spared:for I said; within himself, thus he reasoned in his own mind:who can tell [whether] God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?
and in hope of this he kept praying, fasting, and weeping; he could not tell but God might repent of the evil he had threatened, as in some cases he has done; see Joe 2:13.