Now I call upon you, father, as a witness in addition to the mother of the children, because they would not keep my covenant,

Let them be scattered among the nations; let their names be blotted out from the earth, because they have despised my covenant.

You made an everlasting covenant with him and promised him that you would never forsake his descendants, and you gave him Isaac, and to Isaac you gave Jacob and Esau.

Or has another nation known you besides Israel? Or what tribes have so believed the covenants as these tribes of Jacob?

For I did not wish to inquire about the ways above but about those things that we daily experience: why Israel has been given over to the nations in disgrace; why the people whom you loved has been given over to godless tribes and the law of our ancestors has been brought to destruction and the written covenants no longer exist.

And those who opposed your promises have trampled on those who believed your covenants.

They scorned his law and denied his covenants; they have been unfaithful to his statutes and have not performed his works.

But what of those for whom I prayed? For who among the living is there who has not sinned, or who is there among mortals who has not transgressed your covenant?

The third way: they shall see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the covenants of the Most High.

Do not take note of the endeavors of those who act wickedly but of the endeavors of those who have kept your covenants amid afflictions.

our harp has been laid low, our song has been silenced, and our rejoicing has been ended; the light of our lampstand has been put out, the ark of our covenant has been plundered, our holy things have been polluted, and the name by which we are called has been almost profaned; our children have suffered abuse, our priests have been burned to death, our Levites have gone into exile, our virgins have been defiled, and our wives have been ravished; our righteous men have been carried off, our little ones have been cast out, our young men have been enslaved and our strong men made powerless.