For David himself. I will praise thee, O lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast heard the words of my mouth. I will sing praise to thee in the sight of his angels:
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives by the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God.
And I came to them of the captivity, to the heap of new corn, to them that dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I remained there seven days, mourning in the midst of them.
The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest, the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chobar: and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.
Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.
Ain. Therefore do I weep and my eyes run down with water, because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me: my children are desolate because the enemy hath prevailed.
And I said to the king: O king, live for ever: Why should not my countenance be sorrowful, seeing the city of the place of the sepulchres of my fathers is desolate, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire?
Then we set forward from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.
And I proclaimed there a fast by the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before the Lord our God, and might ask of him a right way for us, and for our children, and for all our substance.
Behold the voice of the daughter my people from a far country: Is not the Lord in Sion, or is not her king in her? Why then have they provoked me to wrath with their idols and strange vanities?