and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God, for our wrongful deeds have [a]risen above our heads, and our (A)guilt has grown even to the heavens. (B)Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and because of our wrongful deeds we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to [b](C)open shame, as it is this day.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 9:6 Lit increased over the head
  2. Ezra 9:7 Lit shame of faces

and prayed:

“I am too ashamed(A) and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.(B) From the days of our ancestors(C) until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword(D) and captivity,(E) to pillage and humiliation(F) at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.

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