Ezr 9:5-15 | ESV | STEP | And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting , with my garment and my cloak torn , and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God ,

5 And at the ^aevening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment ^band my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees ^cand spread out my hands to the Lord my God, 6 saying:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities ^dhave risen higher than our heads, and our ^eguilt has ^fmounted up to the heavens. 7 ^gFrom the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great ^hguilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, ⁱand to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a ^jremnant and to give us a ^ksecure hold ^{▼▼Hebrew nail, or tent-pin} within his holy place, that our God may ^mbrighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 ⁿFor we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, ^obut has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection ^{▼▼Hebrew a wall} in Judea and Jerusalem.

10 “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with ^qtheir uncleanness. 12 ^rTherefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land ^sand leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for ^tour great guilt, seeing that you, our ^uGod, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a ^vremnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and ^wintermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us ^xuntil you consumed us, so that there should be no ^yremnant, nor any to escape? 15 O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a ^zremnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our ^aaguilt, ^abfor none can stand before you because of this.”