And I said: My God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face towards you, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads and our guilt is as high as the heavens.
A prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, ‘Look, the Lord God of your ancestors handed them over to you because of his wrath against Judah, but you slaughtered them in a rage that has reached heaven.
Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we survive as a remnant today. Here we are before you with our guilt, though no one can stand in your presence because of this.
so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth again because of your disgrace. This is the declaration of the Lord God.” ’
After my return, I felt regret; After I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse,’ says the Lord.
Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse, says the Lord.
‘Come, let’s settle this,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are crimson red, they will be like wool.
After all that has happened to us because of our evil deeds and terrible guilt #– #though you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have allowed us to survive , #– #
‘But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, “God, have mercy on me, , a sinner! ”
and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition you in their captors’ land: ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,’
We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgement extends to the sky and reaches as far as the clouds.
‘But when they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors #– #their unfaithfulness that they practised against me, and how they acted with hostility towards me,
let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to hear your servant’s prayer that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against you. Both I and my father’s family have sinned.