Our people weren’t faithful. They did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. They deserted him. They turned their faces away from the place where he lives. They turned their backs on him.

我们列祖犯了罪，行耶和华我们神眼中看为恶的事，离弃他，转脸背向他的居所，

因我们的祖先犯了罪，行耶和华—我们上帝眼中看为恶的事，离弃他，转脸背向耶和华的居所。

因我们的祖先犯了罪，行耶和华—我们神眼中看为恶的事，离弃他，转脸背向耶和华的居所。

我们的祖先行事不忠，做我们的上帝耶和华视为恶的事，背弃祂，转脸背向祂的居所。

我们的列祖冒犯了神，行了耶和华我们的神看为恶的事，离弃了他，转脸不顾耶和华的居所，以背向他。

我們列祖犯了罪，行耶和華－我們神眼中看為惡的事，離棄他，轉臉背向他的居所，

因我們的祖先犯了罪，行耶和華－我們上帝眼中看為惡的事，離棄他，轉臉背向耶和華的居所。

因我們的祖先犯了罪，行耶和華－我們神眼中看為惡的事，離棄他，轉臉背向耶和華的居所。

我們的祖先行事不忠，做我們的上帝耶和華視為惡的事，背棄祂，轉臉背向祂的居所。

我們的列祖冒犯了神，行了耶和華我們的神看為惡的事，離棄了他，轉臉不顧耶和華的居所，以背向他。

因為我們列祖不忠實，行了永恆主我們的上帝所看為壞的事，離棄了他，轉臉不顧永恆主的居所，而以背向他。

我列祖干罪、行我上帝耶和華所惡、而離棄之、轉背耶和華之居所、

蓋我諸父曾犯罪作惡於我上帝耶和華前不敬聖室、

我祖父獲罪、行惡於主我列祖之天主前、違棄主、不顧其聖所、

Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him.

For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs.

Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned the Lord and his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him.

For our ancestors were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned him, turned their faces away from the LORD’s dwelling place, and turned their backs on him.

For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have abandoned Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have turned their backs.

For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and turned their backs on Him.

For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Jehovah, and turned their backs.

For our fathers were unfaithful and did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the Lord’s tabernacle, and turned their backs on Him.

For our fathers have trespassed, and done[ that which was] evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned[ their] backs.

For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of the LORD our God and abandoned him! They turned away from the LORD’s dwelling place and rejected him.

For our fathers were unfaithful, and have done that which was evil in Yahweh our God’s sight, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs.

Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’ s house. About 25 men were there. They were at the entrance to the Lord’ s temple between the porch and the altar. Their backs were turned toward the temple. Their faces were turned toward the east. And they were bowing down to the sun.

You say to a piece of wood,‘ You are my father.’ You say to a stone,‘ You are my mother.’ You have turned your backs to me. You refuse to look at me. But when you are in trouble, you say,‘ Come and save us!’

“ But our people before us became proud and stubborn. They didn’t obey your commands.

Our people of long ago sinned. And they are now dead. We are being punished because of their sins.

“ Didn’t the Lord know you were burning incense in the towns of Judah? Didn’t he care that you were also doing it in the streets of Jerusalem? You and your people of long ago were doing it. Your kings and officials were doing it too. So were the rest of the people in the land.

Haven’t you brought this on yourselves? I am the Lord your God, but you deserted me. You left me even while I was leading you.

We are filled with it. It has been like that ever since the days of our people who lived long ago. Kings of other countries have killed many of us and our kings and priests with their swords. They’ve forced others to leave their own land. They’ve taken them away as prisoners. They’ve robbed others. They’ve made still others feel ashamed and dishonored. All these things have happened to us because we’ve committed so many sins. And that’s how things still are to this day.

But our people made the God of heaven angry. So he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar from Chaldea. He was king of Babylon. He destroyed this temple. He forced the Jews to leave their own country. He took them away to Babylon.

Lord, you saved your people before. So turn your great anger away from Jerusalem again. After all, it is your city. It’s your holy mountain. You have made those who live around us think little of Jerusalem and your people. That’s because we have sinned. Our people before us did evil things too.

Ahaz offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus. They had won the battle over him. Ahaz thought,“ The gods of the kings of Aram have helped them. So I’ll sacrifice to those gods. Then they’ll help me.” But those gods only caused his ruin. In fact, those gods caused the ruin of the whole nation of Israel.Ahaz gathered together everything that belonged to God’s temple. He cut all of it in pieces. Ahaz shut the doors of the Lord’ s temple. He set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.In every town in Judah he built high places. Sacrifices were burned there to other gods. That made the Lord, the God of his people, very angry.

He followed the ways of the kings of Israel. He also made statues of gods that were named Baal.He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He sacrificed his children in the fire to other gods. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hates these practices. The Lord had driven out those nations to make room for the people of Israel.Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. He also did it on the tops of hills and under every green tree.

“ My people have sinned twice. They have deserted me, even though I am the spring of water that gives life. And they have dug their own wells. But those wells are broken. They can’t hold any water.

Lord, you give me strength. You are like a fort to me. When I’m in trouble, I go to you for safety. The nations will come to you from one end of the earth to the other. They will gather together and say,“ Our people of long ago didn’t own anything except statues of gods. The statues were worthless. They didn’t do them any good.

“ Go. Ask the Lord for advice. Ask him about what is written in this book that has been found. Do it for me. Also do it for the people who remain in Israel and Judah. The Lord has been very angry with us. That’s because our people before us didn’t obey what the Lord had said. They didn’t do everything written in this book.”

“ Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And you say,‘ If we had lived in the days of those who lived before us, we wouldn’t have done what they did. We wouldn’t have helped to kill the prophets.’So you are witnesses against yourselves. You admit that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets.So go ahead and finish the sins that those who lived before you started!

“ Our God, you are the great God. You are mighty and wonderful. You keep the covenant you made with us. You show us your love. So don’t let all our suffering seem like a small thing to you. We’ve suffered greatly. So have our kings and leaders. So have our priests and prophets. Our people who lived long ago also suffered. And all your people are suffering right now. In fact, we’ve been suffering from the time of the kings of Assyria until today.