3 ¹ Then in my grief I wept, and I prayed in anguish, saying,

3 ² "Righteous are you, O Lord; all your deeds and all they ways are mercy and truth, and you render true and righteous judgment for ever. 3 ³ Remember me and look favourably upon me; do not punish me for my sins and for my unwitting offences and those which my fathers committed before you. 3 ⁴ For they disobeyed your commandments, and you gave us over to plunder, captivity, and death; you made us a byword of reproach in all the nations among which we have been dispersed. 3 ⁵ And now your many judgments are true in exacting penalty from me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we did not keep your commandments. For we did not walk in truth before you. 3 ⁶ And now deal with me according to your pleasure; command my spirit to be taken up, that I may depart and become dust. For it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and great is the sorrow within me. Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn your face away from me."