Ezra was praying and confessing. He was crying and bowing down in front of God’s temple. While Ezra was doing that, a large group of the people of Israel—men, women, and children—gathered around him. Those people were also crying very hard.
If you people of Judah don’t listen to the Lord,\par I will hide and cry.\par Your pride will cause me to cry.\par I will cry very hard.\par My eyes will overflow with tears.\par Why? Because the Lord’s flock {\cf2\super [111]} \par will be captured.\par
“Jeremiah, speak this message\par to the people of Judah:\par ‘My eyes are filled with tears.\par I will cry night and day without stopping.\par I will cry for my virgin daughter. {\cf2\super [123]} \par I will cry for my people.\par Why? Because someone hit them\par and crushed them.\par They have been hurt very badly.\par
If my head was filled with water,\par and if my eyes were a fountain of tears,\par I would cry day and night\par for my people that have been destroyed.\par
\{The people say,\}\par ‘Let those women come quickly\par and cry for us.\par Then our eyes will fill with tears,\par and streams of water will come\par out of our eyes.’\par
Then the Lord (Glory) said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem. Put a mark on the forehead of every person that feels sad and upset about all the terrible things people are doing in this city.”
The Lord said, “Saul has stopped following me. So I am sorry that I made Saul king. He is not doing what I tell him.” Samuel became angry and cried to the Lord all night.