“What can we say to you?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove we haven’t done anything wrong? God has shown you that we are guilty. We are now your slaves. All of us are, including the one found to have the cup.”
You gave us your commands through your servants the prophets. You said, ‘You are entering the land to take it as your own. The sinful practices of its people have made the land impure. They have filled it with their “unclean” acts from one end to the other. The Lord hates all their practices.
We are still slaves. But you are our God. You haven’t turned away from us. You haven’t left us in our slavery. You have been kind to us. The kings of Persia have seen it. You have given us new life to repair your temple and rebuild it. You have given us a place of safety in Judah and Jerusalem.
For many years you put up with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. In spite of that, they didn’t pay any attention. So you handed them over to the nations that were around them.
Our kings and leaders didn’t follow your law. Our priests and our people before us didn’t follow it either. They didn’t pay any attention to your commands or rules that you warned them to keep.