Daniel 9:8-18

8Our kings, our leaders and our ancestors have turned away from you, Lord. So we are very ashamed.

9Our Lord God, we have turned against you. But you are kind and you forgive people.

10We have not obeyed the Lord our God. You sent your servants, the prophets, to give us your laws. But we have not lived in the way that your laws taught us.

11All the people of Israel have turned away from your laws. We have refused to obey you. Your servant Moses gave us your laws. He warned us about your punishments. Now you have punished us in the way that he said. We have turned away from you.

12So you have done what you promised to do to us and to our rulers. You have caused us to have terrible trouble. You have punished Jerusalem with more trouble than has ever happened to any other city.

13All this trouble has come to us in the way that Moses wrote in the book of your laws. But we have still not tried to please you, the Lord our God. We have not turned away from our sins. We have not learned your true teaching.

14So you were ready to punish us with this trouble. You are always right in everything that you do. You are right to punish us because we have not obeyed you.

15Our Lord God, you used your great power to bring your people safely out of Egypt. You are still famous today because of what you did then. We know that we have done things that are wrong and wicked.

16Our Lord, please stop being angry with us. Stop punishing your own city, Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins and the evil things that our ancestors did, other people insult us. All the people who live near us laugh at Jerusalem and your people. So please do what is right, as you always do.

17Our God, please accept my prayer. Please do what I have asked for. Your temple is now a heap of stones. Please bless it again, so that people will know that you are great.

18Listen to us, my God. Our towns have become heaps of stones. See what has happened to the city that belongs to you. We do not ask you to do this because we are righteous people. We ask you because you are very kind.