17. Open your eyes and see: it is not the dead in Hades, whose breath has been taken from within them, who will declare the glory and vindication to the Lord.
18. The person who is deeply grieved, who walks bowed and feeble, with failing eyes and famished soul, will declare your glory and justice, Lord!
19. “Not on the just deeds of our ancestors and our kings do we base our plea for mercy in your sight, Lord, our God.
20. You have sent your wrath and anger upon us, as you had warned us through your servants the prophets:
21. Thus says the Lord: Bend your necks and serve the king of Babylon, that you may continue in the land I gave your ancestors;
22. for if you do not listen to the Lord’s voice so as to serve the king of Babylon,
23. I will silence from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the cry of joy and the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; and all the land shall be deserted, without inhabitants.
24. But we did not listen to your voice, or serve the king of Babylon, and you carried out the threats you had made through your servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our ancestors would be brought out from their burial places.
25. And indeed, they lie exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night. They died in great suffering, by famine and sword and plague.
26. And you reduced the house which bears your name to what it is today, because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
27. “But with us, Lord, our God, you have dealt in all your clemency and in all your great mercy.
28. Thus you spoke through your servant Moses, the day you ordered him to write down your law in the presence of the Israelites:
29. ‘If you do not listen to my voice, surely this great and numerous throng will dwindle away among the nations to which I will scatter them.