Lamentations 3

⁷Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah

²¹Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

¹⁵From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

¹⁶Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.

³He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

²⁰Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.

⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁸Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! What will the Day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light.

¹⁹It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.

²³I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.

¹³They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.

¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.

⁴He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.

⁵The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.

²⁰The Lord will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The Lord will blot out his name from under heaven

²⁵I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.

²⁵Therefore the anger of the Lord burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,

⁸Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

¹³I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.

²For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.

³There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.

¹⁷Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

⁹Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.

¹⁰For my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my iniquity has drained my strength, and my bones are wasting away.

³For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.

⁴My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.

¹⁹Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

⁸He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.

⁷He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.

⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

¹⁴Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the Lord our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

⁵I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care.

⁶You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.

³For the enemy has pursued my soul, crushing my life to the ground, making me dwell in darkness like those long since dead.

⁷Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

⁸He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.

²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

⁸You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.

⁴But now, behold, I am freeing you today from the chains that were on your wrists. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look, the whole land is before you. Wherever it seems good and right to you, go there.”

⁶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.

²⁰I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.

²I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.

⁷Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.

²How long, O Lord, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?

¹⁷Why, O Lord, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

⁶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.

²⁸His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

¹¹He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.

¹Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

⁹He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.

¹⁸Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! What will the Day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light.

¹⁹It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.

¹⁶Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.

¹⁴For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.

⁷So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

⁸Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast tearing them apart.

¹Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

¹²I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;

¹³His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

¹³He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.

²³This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it.

⁸I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁰I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.

¹¹“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

²For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?

⁴He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

¹²If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.

¹³He has prepared His deadly weapons; He ordains His arrows with fire.

¹²I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;

¹³His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

²³I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.

²⁸No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.

⁷You have deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

⁶³When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.

⁶But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.

⁷All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:

²before his associates and the army of Samaria, saying, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Can they restore the wall by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?”

³Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”

³Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy, for we have endured much contempt.

⁴We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

¹³You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

¹⁹Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me.

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

¹⁶And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”

¹⁷Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.

¹⁸Among all the sons she bore, there is no one to guide her; among all the sons she brought up, there is no one to take her hand.

³You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.

¹⁷Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.

²⁶O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

⁷Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.

⁶O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O Lord, tear out the fangs of the lions.

¹¹What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

¹⁰The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.

³⁰but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will devastate the land.

¹⁶For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.

¹⁷Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

¹⁵We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

¹⁹Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.

¹⁵where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

¹David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

¹¹Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

²²In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.

¹¹In my alarm I said, “All men are liars!”

¹¹What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?

¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

⁵He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

⁷Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.

⁵⁰Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people—

¹A song of ascents. O Lord, remember on behalf of David all the hardships he endured,

³²So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.

⁶O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon—even from Mount Mizar.

¹¹Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

⁶When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

⁸the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts those who are weighed down, the Lord loves the righteous.

²⁵For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.

³For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.

⁷O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance.

⁷“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?

⁸Is His loving devotion gone forever? Has His promise failed for all time?

²⁴“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.

⁸¹My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.

¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.

³¹But in Your great compassion, You did not put an end to them; nor did You forsake them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God.

¹⁸Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

¹⁹He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

⁶“Because I, the Lord, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

³⁸And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.

²³Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

⁵For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.

²O Lord, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.

⁵Your loving devotion, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds.

³³But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him, nor ever betray My faithfulness.

⁵The Lord within her is righteous; He does no wrong. He applies His justice morning by morning; He does not fail at dawn, yet the unjust know no shame.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.

⁵I cry to You, O Lord: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

²¹Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:

¹⁸Surely the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His loving devotion

⁸Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah

⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

⁸Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

³¹But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

⁵I wait for the Lord; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope.

⁶My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning—more than watchmen wait for the morning.

²⁶It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

³⁴Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.

²He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

⁷Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.

³⁴Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

⁵I wait for the Lord; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope.

¹⁸I await Your salvation, O Lord.

³⁵So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

¹⁵For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence—but you were not willing.”

¹Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”

²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

³⁰For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

⁷¹It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

¹²Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law,

¹²So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

¹⁷I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.

¹⁰The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

⁹I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.

⁷I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

¹⁸I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

¹⁷So there is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children will return to their own land.

¹³But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

³Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.

¹²And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

⁶I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

¹⁰They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

³⁹But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;

⁶⁷Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him

²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.

²⁰Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.

¹⁴For the Lord will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage.

⁸The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.

⁹He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever.

⁷“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?

⁷“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.

⁸In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.

¹⁶For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me—the breath of life I have made.

²²Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the Lord will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.

³⁸And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.

⁵For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.

¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.

⁸How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!

¹⁶So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.

⁴³Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.

⁴⁴Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress.

¹¹Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

³²For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord God. So repent and live!

⁹Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

²¹For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

¹¹As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double.

²²Thus says your Lord, the Lord, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again.

²³I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”

²⁰to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,

³³For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”

³⁴“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.

³³For the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.

⁹to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.

¹⁵Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

¹³Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

³This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.

²⁷And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

⁹For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.

¹⁰The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.

⁹A man’s heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

²¹Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the Lord will prevail.

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

³⁵All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

⁷I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things.

⁶If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

⁴²For this is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on this people, so I will bring on them all the good I have promised them.

¹⁰“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

⁷but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.

²⁶Many seek the ruler’s favor, but a man receives justice from the Lord.

³A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the Lord.

⁹Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the Lord, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

¹⁵Why do you cry out over your wound? Your pain has no cure! Because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins I have done these things to you.

⁵but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶“Why are you angry,” said the Lord to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen?

¹³Elisha, however, said to the king of Israel, “What have we to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and of your mother!” “No,” replied the king of Israel, “for it is the Lord who has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

⁵Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test?

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

¹³So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

⁴Be angry, yet do not sin; on your bed, search your heart and be still. Selah

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

⁵⁹I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.

¹Of David. To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul;

²Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

⁴Bring joy to Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

⁶I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

⁷Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

⁸We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.

⁴So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift my hands.

²⁶But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

⁷“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

⁸They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

¹⁸I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

⁵Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?

⁴and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was unwilling to forgive.

¹⁸The Lord is righteous, yet I rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.

²¹Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.

¹⁷The Lord has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

¹How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.

²Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.

⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O Lord.

¹⁵so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm.

⁹I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who strikes the blow.

⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

¹³And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the Lord of Hosts.

²Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.

¹Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go!

¹¹Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.

⁴O Lord God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?

¹³when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

¹⁴They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.

¹⁵“Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”

⁴⁴He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

³⁷You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the Lord will drive you.

¹⁴I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

¹³The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward, if you hear and carefully follow the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am giving you today.

¹⁶All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”

⁶But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.

⁷All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:

¹⁰Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

⁷But among all the Israelites, not even a dog will snarl at man or beast.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

¹³You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

¹⁴You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

⁹And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.

¹⁰They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹⁷Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.

¹⁸Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

¹⁹These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?

⁴³Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,” declares the Lord.

⁴⁴“Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

⁴The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.

¹³He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.

¹How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.

²Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.

¹⁸Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.

¹¹My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

¹Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.

¹³⁶My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.

¹⁶For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.

¹⁷But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁷You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.

²In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.

¹⁶For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.

¹⁴Return, O God of Hosts, we pray! Look down from heaven and see! Attend to this vine—

¹⁵the root Your right hand has planted, the son You have raised up for Yourself.

¹Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!

¹⁹For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the Lord gazed out from heaven to earth

²⁰to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,

²⁰Look, O Lord, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

¹⁶O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us.

¹⁷So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary.

⁹I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’

⁴¹As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it

⁴²and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

³When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.

⁴So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

²¹Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.

¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.

¹⁸If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”

¹⁹Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.

⁷For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.”

⁵“Here he is,” replied King Zedekiah. “He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you.”

⁴Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.

²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

¹⁰Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.’

¹¹See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life.

⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

¹⁷A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed.

⁹“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city.”

¹⁶So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.

⁶⁶So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.

³For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.

⁴At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’

¹¹Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

⁴The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck.

²I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

¹⁸So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the Lord.”

²⁴On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.

²He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

¹¹So the Lord brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

¹²And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

¹A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord!

²O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy.

²saying: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.

³For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.

³The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.

⁴Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, deliver my soul!”

²⁸They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.

⁵“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

¹For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. Listen to my prayer, O God, and do not ignore my plea.

⁸Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the Lord has heard my weeping.

⁹The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.

⁶This poor man called out, and the Lord heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.

¹³But to You, O Lord, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You.

¹⁴Why, O Lord, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?

⁸Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

¹⁰Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

⁹Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

¹⁴Do not fear, O Jacob, you worm, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the Lord. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁰Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹But now, this is what the Lord says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine!

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

²²The Lord redeems His servants, and none who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

³⁶Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.

⁴who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,

³⁴Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He may bring rest to the earth, but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.

²³When I sing praise to You my lips will shout for joy, along with my soul, which You have redeemed.

¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

¹Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

⁴For You have upheld my just cause; You sit on Your throne judging righteously.

⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”

¹Of David. Vindicate me, O Lord! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

²³When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

¹Of David. Contend with my opponents, O Lord; fight against those who fight against me.

¹⁹For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁰O Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.

⁵⁹You have seen, O Lord, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!

¹⁴But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

¹Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!

⁵⁰Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people—

⁸“I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.

¹⁸Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O Lord, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.

³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.

³therefore prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord God says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you on every side, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations and were taken up in slander by the lips of their talkers,

⁷See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”

¹²By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.

³They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah

¹⁸Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

²You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.

¹⁴I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.

⁹And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.

⁴Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.

²⁰O Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.

¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?”

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

²⁹Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

⁶Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.

¹⁰Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.

²²If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!

¹⁷The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

¹⁸The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.

¹⁵‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁶‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

³When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—

¹⁶The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to mankind.

⁴³You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.

¹⁹When the Lord your God gives you rest from the enemies around you in the land that He is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

¹¹Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”

¹This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?