I prayed, “My God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are so many. They are higher than our heads. Our guilt even reaches up to the sky.
“But they were disobedient and turned against you and ignored your teachings. Your prophets warned them to come back to you, but they killed those prophets and spoke against you.
All you have to do is admit your sin— that you turned against the Lord your God and worshiped gods under every green tree and didn’t obey me,’ ” says the Lord.
Jerusalem says, “The Lord is right, but I refused to obey him. Listen, all you people, and look at my pain. My young women and men have gone into captivity.
“ ‘By your sinful action you have become unclean. I wanted to cleanse you, but you are still unclean. You will never be cleansed from your sin until my anger against you is carried out.
“Lord our God, you used your power and brought us out of Egypt. Because of that, your name is known even today. But we have sinned and have done wrong.
I commanded my words and laws to my servants the prophets, and they preached to your ancestors, who returned to me. They said, ‘The Lord All-Powerful did as he said he would. He punished us for the way we lived and for what we did.’ ”