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Lamentations 3 Jeremiah Shares Israel's Affliction3 I am [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2
He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3
Surely He has turned His hand against me
Repeatedly all the day.
4
He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away;
He has shattered my bones.
5
He has besieged and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6
He has made me live in dark places
Like those who have long been dead.
7
He walled me in so that I cannot get out;
He has weighted down my chain.
8
Even when I cry out and shout for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
9
He has blocked my ways with cut stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
And like a lion [hiding] in secret places.
11
He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12
He has bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
13
He has caused the arrows of His quiver
To enter my inner parts.
14
I have become the [object of] ridicule to all my people,
And [the subject of] their mocking song all the day.
15
He has filled me with bitterness;
He has made me drunk with wormwood (bitterness).
16
He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has [covered me with ashes and] made me cower in the dust.
17
My soul has been cast far away from peace;
I have forgotten happiness.
18
So I say, "My strength has perished
And so has my hope and expectation from the Lord." Hope of Relief in God's Mercy19
Remember [O Lord] my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall (bitterness).
20
My soul continually remembers them
And is bowed down within me.
21
But this I call to mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22
It is because of the Lord's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed,
Because His [tender] compassions never fail.
23
They are new every morning;
Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness.
24
"The Lord is my portion and my inheritance," says my soul;
"Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him."
25
The Lord is good to those who wait [confidently] for Him,
To those who seek Him [on the authority of God's word].
26
It is good that one waits quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
27
It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke [of godly discipline] in his youth.
28
Let him sit alone [in hope] and keep quiet,
Because God has laid it on him [for his benefit].
29
Let him put his mouth in the dust [in recognition of his unworthiness];
There may yet be hope.
30
Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him;
Let him be filled with reproach.
31
For the Lord will not reject forever,
32
For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness and tender mercy.
33
For He does not afflict willingly and from His heart
Or grieve the children of men.
34
To trample and crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the land,
35
To deprive a man of justice
In the presence of the Most High,
36
To defraud a man in his lawsuit—
The Lord does not approve of these things.
37
Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has authorized and commanded it?
38
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That both adversity (misfortune) and good (prosperity, happiness) proceed? 39
Why should any living mortal, or any man,
Complain [of punishment] in view of his sins?
40
Let us test and examine our ways,
And let us return to the Lord.
41
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [in prayer]
Toward God in heaven;
42
We have transgressed and rebelled,
You have not pardoned.
43
You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain [without pity] and have not spared.
44
You have covered Yourself with a cloud
So that no prayer can pass through.
45
You have made us scum and refuse
Among the peoples (Gentile nations).
46
All our enemies have gaped at us.
47
Panic and pitfall (traps, danger) have come on us,
Devastation and destruction.
48
My eyes overflow with streams of tears
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (Jerusalem).
49
My eyes overflow unceasingly,
Without stopping,
50
Until the Lord looks down
And sees from heaven.
51
My eyes [see things that] bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52
Without cause my enemies
Hunted me down like a bird;
53
They silenced me in the pit
And placed a stone over me.
54
The waters ran down on my head;
I said, "I am cut off (destroyed)!"
55
I called on Your name, O Lord,
Out of the lowest pit.
56
You have heard my voice,
"Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help."
57
You drew near on the day I called to You;
You said, "Do not fear."
58
O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause [You have guided my way and protected me];
You have rescued and redeemed my life.
59
O Lord, You have seen the wrong [done to me];
Judge my case.
60
You have seen all their vengeance,
All their schemes against me.
61
You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
And all their schemes against me.
62
The lips and whispering of my assailants
Are against me all day long.
63
Look at their sitting and their rising [their actions and secret counsels];
I am their mocking song [the subject of their ridicule].
64
You will repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
65
You will harden their hearts;
Your curse will be upon them.
66
You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the heavens of the Lord. Hebrews 1 God's Final Word in His Son1 God, having spoken to the fathers long ago in [the voices and writings of] the prophets in many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the truth], and in many ways, 2 has in these last days spoken [with finality] to us in [the person of One who is by His character and nature] His Son [namely Jesus], whom He appointed heir and lawful owner of all things, through whom also He created the universe [that is, the universe as a space-time-matter continuum]. 3 The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God's Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father's] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority], 4 having become as much superior to angels, since He has inherited a more excellent and glorious name than they [that is, Son—the name above all names]. 5 For to which of the angels did the Father ever say, "You are My Son,
Today I have begotten (fathered) You [established You as a Son, with kingly dignity]"? And again [did He ever say to the angels], "I shall be a Father to Him
And He shall be a Son to Me"? 6 And when He again brings the firstborn [highest-ranking Son] into the world, He says, "And all the angels of God are to worship Him." 7 And concerning the angels He says, "Who makes His angels winds,
And His ministering servants flames of fire [to do His bidding]." 8 But about the Son [the Father says to Him], "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
And the scepter of [absolute] righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom.
9
"You have loved righteousness [integrity, virtue, uprightness in purpose] and have hated lawlessness [injustice, sin].
Therefore God, Your God, Has anointed You
With the oil of gladness above Your companions." 10 And, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
And the heavens are the works of Your hands;
11
They will perish, but You remain [forever and ever];
And they will all wear out like a garment,
12
And like a robe You will roll them up;
Like a garment they will be changed.
But You are the same [forever],
And Your years will never end." 13 But to which of the angels has the Father ever said, "Sit at My right hand [together with me in royal dignity],
Until I make your enemies
A footstool for your feet [in triumphant conquest]"? 14 Are not all the angels ministering spirits sent out [by God] to serve (accompany, protect) those who will inherit salvation? [Of course they are!] Psalm 102 Prayer of an Afflicted Man for Mercy on Himself and on Zion.A Prayer of the afflicted; when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint to God.102 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry for help come to You!
2
Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress!
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day when I call, answer me quickly.
3
For my days have vanished in smoke,
And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.
4
My heart has been struck like grass and withered,
Indeed, [absorbed by my heartache] I forget to eat my food.
5
Because of the sound of my groaning [in suffering and trouble]
My bones cling to my flesh.
6
I am like a [mournful] vulture of the wilderness;
I am like a [desolate] owl of the wasteland.
7
I am sleepless and lie awake [mourning],
I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop. 8
My enemies taunt me all day long;
Those who ridicule me use my name as a curse.
9
For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And have mingled my drink with tears
10
Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,
For You have lifted me up and thrown me away.
11
My days are like an evening shadow that lengthens and vanishes [with the sun];
And as for me, I wither away like grass. 12
But You, O Lord, are enthroned forever [ruling eternally as sovereign];
And [the fame and glory of] Your name [endures] to all generations.
13
You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
For it is time to be gracious and show favor to her;
Yes, the appointed time [the moment designated] has come.
14
For Your servants find [melancholy] pleasure in the stones [of her ruins]
And feel pity for her dust.
15
So the nations will fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth [will recognize] Your glory.
16
For the Lord has built up Zion;
He has appeared in His glory and brilliance;
17
He has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
And has not despised their prayer. 18
Let this be recorded for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created will praise the Lord.
19
For He looked down from His holy height [of His sanctuary],
From heaven the Lord gazed on the earth,
20
To hear the sighing of the prisoner,
To set free those who were doomed to death,
21
So that people may declare the name of the Lord in Zion
And His praise in Jerusalem,
22
When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. 23
He has exhausted my strength [humbling me with sorrow] in the way;
He has shortened my days.
24
I said, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days;
Your years are [eternal] throughout all generations.
25
"At the beginning You founded the earth;
The heavens are the work of Your hands.
26
"Even they will perish, but You endure;
Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment.
Like clothing You will change them and they shall be changed.
27
"But You remain the same,
And Your years will never end.
28
"The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You." Proverbs 26:21-22 21
Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
So is a contentious man to kindle strife.
22
The words of a whisperer (gossip) are like dainty morsels [to be greedily eaten];
They go down into the innermost chambers of the body [to be remembered and mused upon].  | | | | | | | Bible Gateway Recommendations | | | | | |
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