2“You are righteous, Lord,

and all your deeds are just;

All your ways are mercy and fidelity;

you are judge of the world.a

3And now, Lord, be mindful of me

and look with favor upon me.

Do not punish me for my sins,

or for my inadvertent offenses,

or for those of my ancestors.b

“They sinned against you,

4and disobeyed your commandments.

So you handed us over to plunder, captivity, and death,

to become an object lesson, a byword, and a reproach

in all the nations among whom you scattered us.c

5“Yes, your many judgments are right

in dealing with me as my sins,

and those of my ancestors, deserve.

For we have neither kept your commandments,

nor walked in fidelity before you.

6“So now, deal with me as you please;

command my life breath to be taken from me,

that I may depart from the face of the earth and become dust.

It is better for me to die than to live,*

because I have listened to undeserved reproaches,

and great is the grief within me.d

“Lord, command that I be released from such anguish;

let me go to my everlasting abode;

Do not turn your face away from me, Lord.

For it is better for me to die

than to endure so much misery in life,

and to listen to such reproaches!”

“Blessed are you, merciful God!

Blessed be your holy and honorable name forever!

May all your works forever bless you.f

12Now to you, Lord, I have turned my face

and have lifted up my eyes.

13Bid me to depart from the earth,

never again to listen to such reproaches.

14“You know, Master, that I am clean

of any defilement with a man.

15I have never sullied my own name

or my father’s name in the land of my captivity.

“I am my father’s only daughter,

and he has no other child to be his heir,

Nor does he have a kinsman or close relative

whose wife I should wait to become.

Seven husbands of mine have already died.

Why then should I live any longer?

But if it does not please you, Lord, to take my life,

look favorably upon me and have pity on me,

that I may never again listen to such reproaches!”