LORD my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to you today.

Watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray.

"Now, O my God, look on us and listen to the prayers offered in this place.

The LORD watches over the righteous and listens to their cries;

Hear my cry, O Lord; listen to my call for help!

O God, hear my prayer and pleading. Restore your Temple, which has been destroyed; restore it so that everyone will know that you are God.

Listen to us, O God; look at us and see the trouble we are in and the suffering of the city that bears your name. We are praying to you because you are merciful, not because we have done right.

"I am sorry that I made Saul king; he has turned away from me and disobeyed my commands." Samuel was angry, and all night long he pleaded with the LORD.

Morning, noon, and night my complaints and groans go up to him, and he will hear my voice.

LORD God, my savior, I cry out all day, and at night I come before you.

(SEE 2:36)

Now, will God not judge in favor of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them?

A widow who is all alone, with no one to take care of her, has placed her hope in God and continues to pray and ask him for his help night and day.

I give thanks to God, whom I serve with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did. I thank him as I remember you always in my prayers night and day.

I said, "O God, I am too ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens.

From the days of our ancestors until now, we, your people, have sinned greatly. Because of our sins we, our kings, and our priests have fallen into the hands of foreign kings, and we have been slaughtered, robbed, and carried away as prisoners. We have been totally disgraced, as we still are today.

Now then, confess your sins to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do what pleases him. Separate yourselves from the foreigners living in our land and get rid of your foreign wives."

Then I confessed my sins to you; I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to confess them to you, and you forgave all my sins.

All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through. Because of our sins we are like leaves that wither and are blown away by the wind.

No one turns to you in prayer; no one goes to you for help. You have hidden yourself from us and have abandoned us because of our sins.

Why should we ever complain when we are punished for our sin?

Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,

I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed the sins of my people. I said, "Lord God, you are great, and we honor you. You are faithful to your covenant and show constant love to those who love you and do what you command.

I went on praying, confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel and pleading with the LORD my God to restore his holy Temple.

But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.

And now you intend to make the men and women of Jerusalem and Judah your slaves. Don't you know that you also have committed sins against the LORD your God?

Our ancestors were unfaithful to the LORD our God and did what was displeasing to him. They abandoned him and turned their backs on the place where he dwells.

We have sinned as our ancestors did; we have been wicked and evil.

I said, "There is no hope for me! I am doomed because every word that passes my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every word is sinful. And yet, with my own eyes I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Our ancestors sinned, but now they are gone, and we are suffering for their sins.

Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.