Nehemiah 9:32–37

³²“And so, our God, you are the great and mighty and wonderful God.

You keep your agreement of love.

Do not let all our trouble seem unimportant to you.

This trouble has come to us, to our kings and our leaders,

to our priests and prophets,

to our ancestors and all your people

from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

³³You have been fair in everything that has happened to us;

you have been loyal, but we have been wicked.

³⁴Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey your teachings;

they did not pay attention to the commands and warnings you gave them.

³⁵Even when our ancestors were living in their kingdom,

enjoying all the good things you had given them,

enjoying the land that was fertile and full of room,

they did not stop their evil ways.

³⁶“Look, we are slaves today

in the land you gave our ancestors.

They were to enjoy its fruit and its good things,

but look, we are slaves here.

³⁷The land’s great harvest belongs to the kings you have put over us

because of our sins.

Those kings rule over us and our cattle as they please,

so we are in much trouble.