⁵ And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, ^(A)the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands^[a] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and ^(A)made confession, saying, ^(B)“O Lord, the ^(C)great and awesome God, who ^(D)keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ^5 (E)we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly ^(F)and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. ^6 (G)We have not listened to ^(H)your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to ^(I)our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ To you, ^(J)O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, ^(K)those who are near and ^(L)those who are far away, in ^(M)all the lands to which you have driven them, because of ^(N)the treachery that they have committed against you. ⁸ To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because ^(O)we have sinned against you. ^9 (P)To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him ^10 (Q)and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by ^(R)his servants the prophets. ^11 (S)All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, ^(T)refusing to obey your voice. ^(U)And the curse and oath ^(V)that are written in the Law of ^(W)Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because ^(X)we have sinned against him. ¹² He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against ^(Y)our rulers who ruled us,^[a] by ^(Z)bringing upon us a great calamity. ^(AA)For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. ^13 (AB)As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, ^(AC)turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. ^14 (AD)Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, ^(AE)for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and ^(AF)we have not obeyed his voice. ¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt ^(AG)with a mighty hand, and ^(AH)have made a name for yourself, as at this day, ^(AI)we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

¹⁶ “O Lord, ^(AJ)according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, ^(AK)your holy hill, ^(AL)because for our sins, and for ^(AM)the iniquities of our fathers, ^(AN)Jerusalem and your people have become ^(AO)a byword among all who are around us. ¹⁷ Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord,^{[b] (AP)}make your face to shine upon ^(AQ)your sanctuary, which is desolate. ^18 (AR)O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see ^(AS)our desolations, and ^(AT)the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. ^(AU)Delay not, ^(AV)for your own sake, O my God, because ^(AW)your city and ^(AX)your people are called by your name.”

²¹ You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is ^(A)in your midst, ^(B)a great and awesome God.

¹⁴ And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, ^(A)“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, ^(B)who is great and awesome, ^(C)and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

The Certainty of God's Promise

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, ^(A)he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^(B)“Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham,^{[a] (C)}having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes ^(D)an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to ^(E)the heirs of the promise ^(F)the unchangeable character of his purpose, ^(G)he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which ^(H)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope ^(I)set before us.

³² “Now, therefore, our God, ^(A)the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, ^(B)since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.

²¹ And who is like your people Israel, the one^[a] nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt?

²³ and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, ^(A)there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, ^(B)keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;