Now therefore, &c. Simply, And now. There seems to be a studied ambiguity about this verse. If "the people" means the family who had demanded the surrender of her son, she is artfully returning to her own petition, to prevent the king from suspecting that her whole story is a fiction: if, as is more natural, "the people" means the nation, she is excusing her boldness on the ground that she was forced by them into speaking thus.

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