3 And when I heard this word, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished.
4 Then all those who trembled at the words of the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl gathered to me, because of the trespass of the exiles, and I sat astonished until the evening offering.
5 And at the evening offering I rose from my affliction. And having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to יהוה my Elohim,
6 and said, “O my Elohim, I am too ashamed and wounded to lift up my face to You, my Elohim, for our crookednesses have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.
7 “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our crookednesses we, our sovereigns, and our priests have been given into the hand of the sovereigns of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder, and to shame of faces, as it is this day.
8 “But now, for a short while, favour has been shown from יהוה our Elohim, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His set-apart place, that our Elohim might enlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
9 “For we were slaves, but in our bondage our Elohim did not forsake us, and extended kindness to us in the presence of the sovereigns of Persia, to revive us, to raise up the House of our Elohim, to restore its ruins, and to give us a wall in Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim.