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I prayed:[a]

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens. From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and[b] priests, have been delivered over by the local kings[c] to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment—right up to the present time.

“But now briefly[d] we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position[e] in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes[f] and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 9:6 tn Heb “I said.”
  2. Ezra 9:7 tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.
  3. Ezra 9:7 tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”
  4. Ezra 9:8 tn Heb “according to a little moment.”
  5. Ezra 9:8 tn Heb “a peg” or “tent peg.” The imagery behind this word is drawn from the experience of nomads who put down pegs as they pitched their tents and made camp after times of travel.
  6. Ezra 9:8 tn Heb “to cause our eyes to shine.” The expression is a figure of speech for “to revive.” See DCH 1:160 s.v. אור Hi.7.

and prayed:

“I am too ashamed(A) and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.(B) From the days of our ancestors(C) until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword(D) and captivity,(E) to pillage and humiliation(F) at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.

“But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious(G) in leaving us a remnant(H) and giving us a firm place[a](I) in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes(J) and a little relief in our bondage.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 9:8 Or a foothold