14. Lord, listen to our prayer and our pleading. For your own sake, set us free and give us favor with those who have brought us into exile
15. so that all the earth might know that you are the Lord our God, since Israel and her children carry your name.
16. Lord, look down on us from your holy house and think of us. Lord, bend your ear and listen.
17. Lord, open your eyes and look upon us. Surely the dead who are in the grave, whose spirit has been taken from their bodies, won’t acknowledge the Lord’s glory and justice!
18. But Lord, the one who is grieved, who goes about weak and bent over, whose eyes are failing and whose spirit is hungering—that one will acknowledge your glory and righteousness.
19. Lord our God, we are not basing our prayer for mercy on any righteous actions of our ancestors and rulers.
20. You’ve sent your anger and wrath on us just as you spoke through your servants the prophets. You said:
21. "The Lord says: ‘Bend your shoulders and serve the king of Babylon, and then you’ll reside in the land that I gave to your ancestors.
22. But if you don’t listen to the Lord’s voice and serve the king of Babylon,