39. No man should complainwhen he is punished for his sins.
40. Let us examine and look at what we have done.Then let us return to the Lord.
41. Let us lift up our hands and pray from our hearts.Let us say to God in heaven,
42. “We have sinned and turned against you.And you have not forgiven us.
43. “You wrapped yourself in anger and chased us.You killed us without mercy.
44. You wrapped yourself in a cloud.No prayer could get through.
45. You made us like scum and trashamong the other nations.
46. “All of our enemiesopen their mouths and say things against us.
47. We have been frightened and fearful.We have been ruined and destroyed.”
48. Streams of tears flow from my eyesbecause my people are destroyed.
49. My tears flow continually,without stopping,
50. until the Lord looks downand sees from heaven.
51. I am sad when I seewhat has happened to all the women of my city.
52. Those who are my enemies for no reasonhunted me like a bird.
53. They threw me alive into a pit.They threw stones at me.
54. Water came up over my head.I said to myself, “I am going to die.”
55. I called out to you, Lord,from the bottom of the pit.
56. You heard me calling, “Do not close your ears.Do not ignore my cry for help.”