Appealed audibly to the Lord, as profited from in an exploitative manner (6)

I believe the answer is:

preyed

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'appealed' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?

I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.

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(Another definition for preyed that I've seen is " Hunted other animals for food".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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