Lamentations 3:1

would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me seriously for your sakes, for Yahweh’s hand has gone out against me.”

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.

“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,

But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.

Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger.

So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name.

Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.

For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels.

But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”

But now it has come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.

“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves.

Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house.

When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,

Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon;

They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.

As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch.”

and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.

“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.

Won’t you revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!

Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;

Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.

Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.

‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will say, “Your familiar friends have turned on you, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away from you.”

Then Ishmael carried away captive all of the people who were left in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the children of Ammon.

but Baruch the son of Neriah has turned you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.”

the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah;

He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.

These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the burning fiery furnace.

I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.

and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’ ”

Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists, and some slapped him,

He said to them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised?

The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.

Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.

without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,

He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,

Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.

even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.

You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.

I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.

They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.

I am small and despised. I don’t forget your precepts.

Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.

Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh.

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.

Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?

Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: you restore me, and cause me to live.

“Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.

Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn you? Who will come to ask of your welfare?

The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them.

Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and David’s house will be like God, like Yahweh’s angel before them.

He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him!

Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.

Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.

Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.

looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.