6. and prayed:You, Lord, are the God our ancestors worshipped, and from heaven you rule every nation in the world. You are so powerful that no one can defeat you.
7. Our God, you forced out the nations who lived in this land before your people Israel came here, and you gave it to the descendants of your friend Abraham for ever.
8. Our ancestors lived in this land and built a temple to honour you.
9. They believed that whenever this land is struck by war or disease or famine, your people can pray to you at the temple, and you will hear their prayer and save them.
10. You can see that the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Edom are attacking us! Those are the nations you would not let our ancestors invade on their way from Egypt, so these nations were not destroyed.
11. Now they are coming to take back the land you gave us.
12. Aren't you going to punish them? We won't stand a chance when this army attacks. We don't know what to do—we are begging for your help.
13. While every man, woman, and child of Judah was standing there at the temple,