4 ^j“In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, ^jthe people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, ^kweeping as they come, and they ^lshall seek the Lord their God.

13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

The People Confess Their Sin

1 ^jWhile Ezra prayed and ^kmade confession, weeping and ^lcasting himself down ^mbefore the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.