1 ‘So the Lord confirmed His word which He proclaimed against us, and against our judges who judged Israel, and our kings and rulers, and against every man of Israel and Judah.
2 As can be seen in what was written in the law of Moses, there has been nothing comparable anywhere, under all the heavens, as to that which has been done in Jerusalem:
3 that a man eat the flesh of his son and the flesh of his daughter.
4 He put them under subjection to all the kingdoms around us, to be a reproach and a desolation among all the nations around about us where the Lord scattered them.
5 And because we sinned against the Lord our God and did not obey His voice, we have been brought low and have not been exalted.
6 ‘To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us and our fathers shame on our faces, as at this day.
7 All these calamities that the Lord proclaimed against us have come upon us.
8 But we did not pray before the presence of the Lord, to turn each one away from the purposes of his wicked heart.
9 And the Lord has watched over the evils, and the Lord brings these upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all His works which He commands us.
10 But we have not obeyed His voice, to conduct our lives in those commandments of the Lord that He set before us.
11 ‘And now, O Lord God of Israel, who with a mighty hand led Your people out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with great power and with outstretched arm, and made a name for Yourself then, as it continues to this day,
12 we have sinned and acted ungodly, we have acted unrighteously, O Lord our God, against all Your commandments.
13 Let Your wrath turn away from us, for only a few of us remain within the nations where You scattered us.
14 O Lord, hear our prayer and our petition, and for Your own sake deliver us, and grant us mercy before those who have carried us into exile,
15 in order that the whole earth may come to know that You are the Lord our God, for Israel and his descendants are called by Your name.
16 ‘O Lord, look down from Your holy house and consider us. O Lord, incline Your ear and hear us.
17 O Lord, open Your eyes and behold, for the dead who are in Hades, whose spirit is taken from their bodies, will not ascribe glory and righteousness to the Lord;
18 but the person who is greatly distressed, who walks bent over, who is ailing and going blind, and the person who hungers—these will give glory and righteousness to You, O Lord.
19 It is not because of the righteous acts of our fathers or our kings that we lay before You our humble plea, O Lord our God,
20 for You sent down Your anger and wrath upon us, as You have said through the hand of Your servants the prophets, saying,
21 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Bend your shoulder and serve the king of Babylon, and remain in the land I gave to your fathers.
22 But if you do not heed the voice of the Lord, to serve the king of Babylon,
23 I shall cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from outside Jerusalem the sound of gladness, the voice of joyfulness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. The whole land will become desolate of inhabitants.’ ”
24 ‘But we did not obey Your voice, to serve the king of Babylon, and You carried out Your words which you spoke by Your servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be carried out from their place.
25 And behold, they have been cast forth in the heat of the day and the frost of the night, and they died in grievous pains by famine and by the sword and by pestilence.
26 And You laid to waste the house called by Your name, as it is this day, because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
27 ‘Even so, O Lord our God, You have dealt with us according to all Your goodness and great mercy,
28 just as You spoke through Your servant Moses on the day You commanded him to write Your law in the presence of the sons of Israel, saying,
29 “If you do not obey My voice, truly this very great multitude of people will become a small number amidst all the nations where I shall scatter them.
30 For I knew they would not obey Me, because they are a stiff-necked people. But in the land of their exile their hearts will turn back,
31 and they will know that I am the Lord their God, and I will give them a heart and ears that obey;
32 and they will praise Me in the land of their exile and will remember My name.
33 They will turn from their stubbornness and their evil deeds; for they shall remember the way of their fathers, who sinned against the Lord.
34 And I shall bring them again to the land I swore to their fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and they will rule over it, and I will multiply their numbers, and they will not be diminished.
35 And I shall establish an everlasting covenant with them to be their God, and they will be My people; I shall never again remove My people Israel from the land I give to them.”