When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.(A) For some days I mourned and fasted(B) and prayed before the God of heaven.

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So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting,(A) and in sackcloth and ashes.(B)

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Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon(A) we sat and wept(B)
    when we remembered Zion.(C)

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The People’s Confession of Sin

10 While Ezra was praying and confessing,(A) weeping(B) and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.

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13 You will arise(A) and have compassion(B) on Zion,
    for it is time(C) to show favor(D) to her;
    the appointed time(E) has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
    her very dust moves them to pity.

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for zeal for your house consumes me,(A)
    and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.(B)
10 When I weep and fast,(C)
    I must endure scorn;

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The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven,

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15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.(A)

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18 “I will remove from you
    all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,
    which is a burden and reproach for you.

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18 He urged them to plead for mercy(A) from the God of heaven(B) concerning this mystery,(C) so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

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When I heard this, I tore(A) my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.(B)

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11 This is the answer they gave us:

“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple(A) that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our ancestors angered(B) the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.(C)

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He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord,(A) the God of heaven,(B) who made the sea(C) and the dry land.(D)

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17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead,(A) and the ark of God has been captured.”(B)

18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led[a](C) Israel forty years.(D)

19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.

21 She named the boy Ichabod,[b](E) saying, “The Glory(F) has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The Glory(G) has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”(H)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 4:18 Traditionally judged
  2. 1 Samuel 4:21 Ichabod means no glory.

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