70
For they and their sons have married the daughters of these people, and the holy race has been mixed with the alien peoples of the land; and from the beginning of this matter the leaders and the nobles have been sharing in this iniquity."
71
As soon as I heard these things I rent my garments and my holy mantle, and pulled out hair from my head and beard, and sat down in anxiety and grief.
72
And all who were ever moved at the word of the Lord of Israel gathered round me, as I mourned over this iniquity, and I sat grief-stricken until the evening sacrifice.
73
Then I rose from my fast, with my garments and my holy mantle rent, and kneeling down and stretching forth my hands to the Lord
74
I said, "O Lord, I am ashamed and confounded before thy face.
75
For our sins have risen higher than our heads, and our mistakes have mounted up to heaven
76
from the times of our fathers, and we are in great sin to this day.
77
And because of our sins and the sins of our fathers we with our brethren and our kings and our priests were given over to the kings of the earth, to the sword and captivity and plundering, in shame until this day.
78
And now in some measure mercy has come to us from thee, O Lord, to leave to us a root and a name in thy holy place,
79
and to uncover a light for us in the house of the Lord our God, and to give us food in the time of our servitude.
80
Even in our bondage we were not forsaken by our Lord, but he brought us into favor with the kings of the Persians, so that they have given us food