Lamentations 5 Cross References - LEB

¹ Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us; take note, and see our disgrace! ² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses, to foreigners. ³ We have become orphans, fatherless, our mothers are like widows. ⁴ _⌊We pay for water with money_⌋,* our wood comes to us at a price. ⁵ We are driven on our necks; we are weary, there is no rest for us. ⁶ We have made a deal with Egypt and Assyria to be satisfied with food. ⁷ Our fathers have sinned, they are no more; we bear their iniquity. ⁸ Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand. ⁹ _⌊We risk our life for food_⌋* because of the sword of the desert. ¹⁰ Our skin is hot like an oven because of the scorching famine. ¹¹ They raped women in Zion, young women* in the cities of Judah. ¹² They hang princes by their hand; they do not show respect before elders. ¹³ Young men must carry a hand-mill and boys stumble under the wood. ¹⁴ Elders are no longer at the gate, young men no longer play stringed instruments. ¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has stopped; our circle-dancing has changed to a mourning ceremony. ¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! ¹⁷ Because of this, our heart has become faint, because of these, our eyes have become dim. ¹⁸ Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, _⌊foxes tread on it_⌋.* ¹⁹ You, O Yahweh, will sit forever on your throne for generation to generation. ²⁰ Why have you forgotten us forever? Why have you forsaken us _⌊for so long_⌋?* ²¹ Restore us to you, O Yahweh, that we will be restored; renew our days as of old. ²² Unless you have utterly rejected us, unless you are angry with us beyond measure.

³ They replied to me, "The survivors in the province who have survived the captivity are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned in the fire."

⁸ Please, remember the word that you have commanded to your servant Moses, saying, 'If you act unfaithfully I will scatter you all among the nations.

⁴ Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn on their head and give them over to plunder in the land of captivity.

⁷ Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will not return to see good.

⁹ Please* remember that you made me like clay, but* you turn me into dust again?

¹³ You have made us a taunt to our neighbors, a derision and a scorn to those around us. ¹⁴ You have made us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. ¹⁵ _⌊All day long_⌋* my disgrace is before me, and the shame of my face covers me, ¹⁶ because of the voice of the taunter and the reviler, because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁰ How long, O God, will the adversary taunt? Will the enemy treat your name with contempt forever? ¹¹ Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your bosom;* destroy them!

⁴ We have become a taunt to our neighbors, a derision and a scorn to those around us.

¹² And return to our neighbors sevenfold _⌊upon them_⌋* their taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord.

⁵⁰ Remember, O Lord the taunting of your servants, how I bear in my bosom the taunts of all the many peoples, ⁵¹ by which your enemies taunt, O Yahweh, by which they taunt the steps of your anointed one.

³ Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us, for long enough we have had our fill of contempt. ⁴ For long enough our soul has had its fill of the derision of the self-confident, the contempt of the arrogant.

¹⁵ You who know, O Yahweh, remember me, and attend to me, and take revenge for me against my persecutors _⌊in your forbearance_⌋.* You must take me away. Know that I am carrying disgrace because of you.

²⁰ See, O Yahweh, that _⌊I am in distress_⌋;* _⌊my stomach_⌋* is in torment, my heart has turned inside me because I have certainly rebelled. From outside a sword brings bereavement, inside the house it is like death.

¹⁵ They clap hands over you, all who pass along the way; they hiss and they shake their head, at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city of which it is said, "A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?"

²⁰ See, Yahweh, and take note! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat their young children of tender care? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

¹⁹ Remember my misery and bitterness, the wormwood* and venom!

⁶¹ You have heard their disgrace, O Yahweh, all their plans against me.

² O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you; O Yahweh, I stand in awe of your works. In the midst of the years, revive it! In the midst of the years, make it known! In wrath, may you remember to show compassion.

⁴² And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!"

³⁰ You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep* with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey shall be stolen right _⌊before you_⌋,* and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats shall be given to your enemies, and _⌊there shall not be anyone who rescues you_⌋.* ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to other people, and _⌊you will be looking on_⌋* _⌊longingly_⌋* for* them all day, _⌊but you will be powerless to do anything_⌋.* ³³ A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed _⌊for the rest of your lives_⌋.* ³⁴ You shall become mad _⌊because of what your eyes shall see_⌋.* ³⁵ Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which _⌊you will not be able to be healed_⌋,* from the sole of your foot and up to your crown. ³⁶ Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors* have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there. ³⁸ "You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little produce, for the locust shall devour it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress* them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.* ⁴⁰ There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives* shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be _⌊yours_⌋,* for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail. ⁴⁵ "And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* because _⌊you did not listen_⌋* to the voice of Yahweh your God, _⌊by observing_⌋* his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring _⌊forever_⌋.* ⁴⁷ "_⌊Because_⌋* of the fact that you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ then you shall serve your enemies, whom Yahweh will send against you under conditions of famine, in thirst, in nakedness, and in a lack of everything; and he shall place* a yoke of iron on your neck _⌊until he has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁴⁹ Yahweh will raise up against you a nation from far off, from the end of the earth, attacking as the eagle swoops down, _⌊a nation whose language you will not understand_⌋,* ⁵⁰ _⌊a grim-faced nation_⌋* _⌊who does not show respect_⌋* to the old and the young and does not show pity. ⁵¹ And it* shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, _⌊calves of your herds_⌋,* and _⌊lambs of_⌋* your flock _⌊until it has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁵² And it shall besiege you in all your towns _⌊until your high and fortified walls fall_⌋,* which you are trusting in* _⌊throughout your land_⌋;* and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you. ⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter, ⁵⁷ and even concerning her afterbirth _⌊that goes out_⌋* from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon her in your _⌊towns_⌋.* ⁵⁸ "If _⌊you do not diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God, ⁵⁹ then Yahweh shall overwhelm you with your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, severe plagues and lasting illnesses, grievous and enduring. ⁶⁰ And he shall bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt concerning which _⌊you were in dread_⌋* _⌊because of them_⌋.* ⁶¹ Also any illness and any plague* that is not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² And you shall remain _⌊only a few people_⌋* in place of the fact you were formerly as the stars of heaven as far as number is concerned, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. ⁶³ _⌊And then_⌋* as Yahweh delighted over you _⌊to make you prosperous_⌋* to make you numerous, so Yahweh shall delight over you to exterminate you* and to destroy you, and so you shall be plucked from the land that you are going there to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth up to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor* your ancestors,* gods of wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes* and a languishing of your inner self.* ⁶⁶ And _⌊your life shall hang in doubt before you_⌋,* and you shall be startled* night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, '_⌊If only it was evening_⌋!'* and in the evening you shall say '_⌊If only it was morning_⌋!'* because of the dread of your heart that you shall feel, and because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see. ⁶⁸ And Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt in ships by the route that I _⌊promised_⌋* to you that '_⌊You shall not see it again_⌋!'* And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer."

¹ A psalm of Asaph.*
O God, the nations have entered your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have reduced Jerusalem to ruins. ² They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.

⁷ Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; As for your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence, and it is desolate, like devastation by foreigners.

¹⁷ And then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and _⌊fatlings, kids* will eat among the sites of ruins._⌋*

¹⁸ _⌊Your holy people_⌋* took possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.

¹² And their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

²¹ And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it.

²⁴ And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses, and I will put to an end the pride of the mighty ones, and their sanctuaries will be defiled.

¹³ Then their wealth shall be as plunder, and their homes as desolation. And they shall build their houses and not inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and not drink their wine."

²⁴ And _⌊I will become angry_⌋,* and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children orphans.

⁸ Their widows* will be more numerous before me than the sand of the seas. I have brought to them, against the mothers* of young men,* a destroyer at noon. I will suddenly drop on her anguish and horror.*

²¹ _⌊Therefore_⌋* give their children to the famine, and hand them over to the _⌊power_⌋* of the sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and let their men be killed by death, their young men struck dead by the sword in the battle.

³ Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses,* and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.

⁴⁸ then you shall serve your enemies, whom Yahweh will send against you under conditions of famine, in thirst, in nakedness, and in a lack of everything; and he shall place* a yoke of iron on your neck _⌊until he has destroyed you_⌋.*

¹ For look, the Lord Yahweh of hosts is removing _⌊every source of support_⌋* from Jerusalem and from Judah: all of the supplies of bread and all of the supplies of water,

⁹ "And you, take for yourself* wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet* and spelt, and you must put them in one vessel, and you must make them for yourself* into a food during the number of days that you are lying on your side; three hundred and ninety days you shall eat it. ¹⁰ And your food that you will eat* will be according to weight; twenty shekels for each day _⌊at fixed times_⌋* you shall eat it. ¹¹ And _⌊an amount of water_⌋* you shall drink, a sixth of a hin; _⌊at fixed times_⌋* you shall drink it. ¹² And as a bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and _⌊with human excrement_⌋* you shall bake it before their eyes." ¹³ And Yahweh said, "Thus shall the _⌊Israelites_⌋* eat their unclean food among the nations _⌊where I will scatter them_⌋."* ¹⁴ And I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and _⌊unclean meat_⌋* has not come into my mouth!" ¹⁵ And he said to me, "See I will give you _⌊cattle manure_⌋* in the place of the feces of a human, and you may prepare your food on it." ¹⁶ And he said to me, "Son of man,* look, I am going to break the _⌊supply_⌋* of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight, _⌊anxiously_⌋,* and _⌊rationed water_⌋,* and they will drink with horror, ¹⁷ so that they will lack food and water, and they will be appalled _⌊with one another_⌋,* and they will waste away because of their guilt.*

⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes* and a languishing of your inner self.* ⁶⁶ And _⌊your life shall hang in doubt before you_⌋,* and you shall be startled* night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life.

³⁶ Behold, we are slaves to this day, and the land that you have given to our ancestors* to eat its fruits and enjoy its goodness—behold, we are slaves in it! ³⁷ Its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have given over us because of our sins, and they are ruling over our dead bodies and our livestock at their pleasure. We are in great trouble.

² thus said Yahweh to me—"Make for yourself fetters and yokes and put them on your neck,

⁸ "But it will be that the nation or kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "until I have destroyed it with my hand.

¹¹ But the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and will serve him, yet will I leave it on its land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and they will till it, and they will live in it." '" ¹² And I spoke words like these to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, _⌊saying_⌋,* "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

¹⁴ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and they will serve him, and I have even given the animals* of the open field to him." '"

¹⁴ My rebellion was bound as a yoke, with his hand it was fastened together; it was put on my neck and caused my strength to fail. The Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they have set an ambush for us in the desert.

²⁹ Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

¹⁰ So now why are you putting God to the test by* placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

² And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all he had, "Please put your hand under my thigh

¹⁵ Next he went from there and found Jehonadab the son of Recab to meet him. He greeted him and asked him, "_⌊Is your heart right with me as my heart is with you_⌋?"* Then Jehonadab said, "Yes, it is. Give your hand!" And he gave his hand and took him up to him on the chariot.

¹ "Oh rebellious children!" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh,
"to make a plan, but* not from me, and pour out a libation, but* not from my Spirit, _⌊so as to add_⌋* sin to sin. ² Who go to go down to Egypt, but* they do not ask of my mouth, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt. ³ And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation. ⁴ For his officials are at Zoan, and his envoys reach to Hanes. ⁵ Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting, but for shame and also for disgrace." ⁶ An oracle of the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, _⌊among_⌋* them are snake and flying serpent; they carry their wealth on the _⌊backs_⌋* of male donkeys and their treasures on the humps* of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.

¹ Ah! Those who go down to Egypt for help!
They rely on horses
and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very numerous, and they do not look to the holy one of Israel, and they do not consult Yahweh. ² And indeed, he is wise, and he brings disaster, and he does not remove his words, and he will rise against the house of evildoers and against the help of workers of iniquity. ³ And the Egyptians are human and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and the helper will stumble, and the one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.*

⁹ And you climbed down to the king with oil, and you made your perfumes numerous, and you sent your envoys _⌊far away_⌋,* and you _⌊sent down deep_⌋* to Sheol.

¹⁸ And now _⌊why do you go_⌋* the way of Egypt to drink the waters of the Shihor? And _⌊why do you go_⌋* the way of Assyria to drink the waters of the _⌊Euphrates_⌋?*

³⁶ How you go about so much changing your way! Also by Egypt you will be put to shame, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

¹² And I will take away the remnant of Judah _⌊who are determined_⌋* to come to the land of Egypt to dwell as aliens there, and everyone will perish. They will fall in the land of Egypt by the sword; they will perish by the famine, from the smallest to the greatest. By the sword and by the famine they will die and become as a curse, as a horror, and as a curse, and as a disgrace. ¹³ So I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt just as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague. ¹⁴ And there will not be a survivor or an escapee of the remnant of Judah, those who have come to dwell as an alien there in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Judah where they are _⌊longing_⌋* to return to dwell there, for they will not turn back, _⌊but only_⌋* some survivors.'"

¹⁵ Raise a war cry against her on all sides. _⌊She has surrendered_⌋.* Her towers have fallen, her walls are ruined. For this is the vengeance of Yahweh. Take revenge on her. As she has done to others, so do to her.

¹⁸ And he despised the oath to break covenant. And, look, he gave his hand in pledge, and yet he did all of these things. He will not escape.'

¹³ And when Ephraim saw his illness, and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria, he sent to the great king.* But he was unable to cure you and heal your wound.

¹¹ Ephraim was like a dove, silly, _⌊without sense_⌋;* they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

³ They will not remain in the land of Yahweh. But Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.

¹ Ephraim herds the wind* and is pursuing the east wind all day long; he multiplies deception and violence and he* _⌊makes a treaty with Assyria_⌋,* and oil is brought to Egypt.

¹³ Then they said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, but behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more."

³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me—Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and Benjamin you would take! All of this is against me!

⁵ You will not bow down to them, and you will not serve them, because I am Yahweh your God, a jealous God, punishing the guilt of the parents on the children on the third and on the fourth generations* of those hating me,

⁸ The eye of the one seeing me will not see me; your eyes are upon me, but* _⌊I will be gone_⌋.*

²¹ And why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my guilt? For now I shall lie in the dust, and you will seek me, but* _⌊I will be no more_⌋."*

²⁰ We know, O Yahweh, our wickedness, the iniquity of our ancestors,* for we have sinned against you.

¹² And _⌊you have behaved badly_⌋* more than your ancestors,* and look, you are going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me.

¹⁵ Thus says Yahweh, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, the weeping of bitterness. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted because of her children, for they are no more."

²⁹ "In those days they will say no longer, '_⌊Parents_⌋* have eaten unripe fruit, and the teeth of the children _⌊are set on edge_⌋*.'

² "_⌊What do you mean by_⌋* quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'The fathers, they ate unripe fruit, and the teeth of the child became blunt.'*

⁵ "Your ancestors,* where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

³² And you—fill up the measure of your fathers! ³³ Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How will you escape from the condemnation to hell? ³⁴ For this reason, behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and will pursue from town to town, ³⁵ so that upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel up to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation!

²⁵ And he said,
"Cursed be Canaan, a slave of slaves he shall be to his brothers."

⁴³ The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower.

¹⁹ But Sanballat the Horonite, the Ammonite servant Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard it, and they mocked and despised us, saying, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?"

¹⁵ The former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and they took food and wine from them, besides forty shekels. Also, their servants controlled the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God.

⁴ His children are far from deliverance, and they are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer—

⁷ because of your knowledge that I am not guilty, and there is no escaping from your hand?

² Or else he will tear me apart like a lion, ripping to pieces, with none to deliver.

²² Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there will be none to deliver.

²² under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is satisfied with food;

¹³ Indeed, from this day I am the one, and no one can deliver from my hand. I perform,* and who can _⌊cancel it_⌋?"*

¹⁰ And now I will uncover her nakedness before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand.

⁶ For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "Look, I am going to cause humankind to fall, each into the hand of his neighbor, and into the hand of his king; and they will devastate the land, and I will not deliver anyone from their hand."

¹¹ The angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak* that was at Ophrah that belonged to Jehoash the Abiezrite; and Gideon his son was threshing wheat in the winepress to hide it* from the Midianites.*

¹⁷ He said, "Far be it from me before Yahweh that I should do this. Is this not the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty warriors did.

⁹ And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, _⌊saying_⌋,* "You must not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. ¹⁰ _⌊As for me_⌋,* look, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you _⌊before_⌋* the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your towns that you have seized." ¹¹ And also all the Judeans who were in Moab, and among the _⌊Ammonites_⌋,* and in Edom, and who were in all the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, in an official position over them, ¹² then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they were scattered. And they came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit that yielded _⌊in great abundance_⌋.*

¹ _⌊And then_⌋* in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and one of the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah, _⌊along with_⌋* ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah. ² And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, _⌊along with_⌋* the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land. ³ Then Ishmael killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, _⌊along with_⌋* the Chaldeans who were found there, _⌊the soldiers_⌋.* ⁴ _⌊And then_⌋* on the second day of the killing of Gedaliah—and _⌊no one_⌋* knew— ⁵ then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with shaven beards* and torn garments, who had cut themselves with blades, _⌊having_⌋* grain offerings* and frankincense in their hands* to bring to the _⌊temple_⌋* of Yahweh. ⁶ And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out to meet them from Mizpah, _⌊weeping as he came_⌋.* _⌊And then_⌋* as he was meeting them, he said to them, "Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam." ⁷ _⌊And then_⌋,* the moment of their coming to the middle of the city, then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, _⌊along with_⌋* the men who were with him, slaughtered* them and threw them to the middle of the pit.* ⁸ But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, "You must not kill us, for _⌊we have_⌋* hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen. ⁹ Now the pit* into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had killed _⌊along with_⌋* Gedaliah was the same one that King Asa had made because of Baasha the king of Israel, who was against him. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain ones. ¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were left at Mizpah, over whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard,* had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael took them captive and set out to cross over to the _⌊Ammonites_⌋.*

¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid _⌊of them_⌋,* because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land.

¹⁴ saying, "No, for we will go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear the sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,"

¹⁶ then it will be that the sword that you are in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious of will pursue after you there into Egypt, and there you will die.

¹⁸ "Son of man,* you must eat your food with trembling, and your water with shuddering, and with anxiety you must drink. ¹⁹ And you must say to the people of the land, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the inhabitants of Jerusalem about the land of Israel: "They will eat their food with anxiety and their water they will drink with horror, because their land will be desolate from* its fullness because of all the violence of _⌊those who are dwelling in it_⌋.*

³⁰ My skin turns black on me, and my bones burn with heat.

⁸³ For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.

⁴ He has worn out my flesh and skin, he has broken my bones.

⁸ Now their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones, it has become dry like wood.

³⁰ You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep* with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it.

¹⁶ And their children will be dashed into pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be raped.*

² I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, and they will loot the houses, and the women will be raped; half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city.

⁶ I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance, and I gave them into your hand. You did not _⌊give_⌋* them mercy; on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.

⁶ And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and tied him up with bronze fetters to bring him to Babylon.

¹⁰ And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. ¹¹ Then he made blind the eyes of Zedekiah, and they tied him up with bronze fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon. And he put him in _⌊prison_⌋* until the day of his death.

²⁵ And from the city he took one high official who was chief officer over _⌊the soldiers_⌋,* and seven men of _⌊the king's advisors_⌋* who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who levied for military service the people of the land, and sixty men* of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard* took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah left from its land.

¹⁰ They sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion are silent. They cast dust on their head, they have put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their head down to the ground.

¹⁶ The presence of Yahweh has scattered them, he will no longer watch over them; _⌊they did not honor the priests_⌋,* they did not show mercy to elders.

¹¹ And they appointed commanders of forced labor over them in order to oppress them with their _⌊forced labor_⌋,* and they built storage cities for Pharaoh—Pithom and Rameses.

¹¹ _⌊And then_⌋* in those days when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers, and he saw their _⌊forced labor_⌋,* and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, one of his brothers.*

⁵ and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave woman who is behind the pair of millstones and every firstborn animal.*

⁵ If you see the donkey of your enemy lying down under its burden, you will refrain from abandoning him. You will surely arrange* it with him.

²¹ And the Philistines seized him, gouged his eyes, and brought him to Gaza. They tied him up with bronze shackles, and he became a grinder _⌊in the prison_⌋.*

¹ Now there was a great cry of distress of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. ² There were those who were saying, "Our sons and daughters, we are many. We must get grain so that we may eat and live." ³ There were also those saying, "We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses so that we can get grain in the famine." ⁴ And there were those who were saying, "We have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards for the tax of the king. ⁵ Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons are like their sons. Look, we are subduing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and there are some from our daughters being molested. _⌊We are powerless_⌋,* and our fields and vineyards belong to others."

¹⁰ let my wife grind for another, and let other men kneel over her,

² Take the pair of mill stones and grind flour! Uncover your veil, strip off your skirt, uncover your thigh, pass through the rivers!

⁶ Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice, to untie the ropes of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and _⌊tear_⌋* every yoke to pieces?

⁴ And they tie up heavy burdens* and put them* on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing with their finger to move them.

¹⁸ "You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your _⌊towns_⌋* that Yahweh your God is giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render for the people _⌊righteous judgments_⌋.*

⁷ "At my going out the gate to the city, I secured my seat in the square. ⁸ Young men saw me and stepped aside, and the aged rose up and stood. ⁹ Officials refrained from talking, and they laid their hand on their mouth. ¹⁰ The voices* of nobles were hushed, and their tongue stuck to their palate. ¹¹ "When the ear heard and commended me, and the eye saw and testified in support of me ¹² because I saved the needy who cried for help, and I saved* the orphan for whom there was no helper. ¹³ The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a headband. ¹⁵ "I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to the poor, and I investigated _⌊the stranger's_⌋* legal dispute. ¹⁷ And I broke the evil one's jaw bones, and I made his prey drop from his teeth.

¹ "But now those younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.

³¹ So* my lyre came to be used for mourning, and my flute for the voice of those who weep.

² mighty warrior and man of war, judge and prophet, and diviner and elder, ³ captain of fifty and the honorable men of rank, and counselor and skillful magicians and skillful enchanter.

⁷ The new wine dries up; the vine languishes. All the merry of heart sigh; ⁸ the joy of the tambourine has stopped. The noise of the jubilant has ceased; the joy of the lyre has stopped. ⁹ They do not drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. ¹⁰ The city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut _⌊so that no one can enter_⌋;* ¹¹ there is an outcry over the wine in the streets. All joy turns into _⌊darkness_⌋;* the joy of the earth disappears.

³⁴ And I will cause to disappear from the towns of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a site of ruins.

⁹ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I am about to cause to disappear from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰ And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

⁴ The roads of Zion are mourning because no one comes to the festival. All her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young women are worried, and she herself suffers bitterly.

¹⁹ I have called to my lovers, they themselves deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city when they sought food for themselves to revive their life.*

¹³ And, I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres will not be heard any longer.

²² And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will never be heard in you again! And every craftsman of every trade will never be found in you again! And the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again!

¹¹ You have turned my wailing into my dancing. You have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy

⁴ Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory and lounge on their couches, and those eating young rams from the sheep and goats, and bull-calves from the middle of the animal stall. ⁵ Alas for those who sing to the tune of the harp; like David they improvise on instruments of music. ⁶ Alas for those who drink from sprinkling bowls of wine and anoint themselves with the best of olive oils and are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. ⁷ Therefore, they shall now go into exile at the head of the exiles and the feast of lounging shall pass away.

¹⁰ And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into lament, and I will put sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day.

⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your* joy to gloominess. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

⁹ He has taken my glory from me, and he has removed the crown of* my head.

³⁹ You have repudiated the covenant with your servant; you have defiled* his crown in* the dirt.

³⁴ Righteousness will exalt a nation, but sin is a reproach to a people.

⁹ The look on their faces testifies against them and they declare their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have dealt out evil to themselves. ¹⁰ Tell the innocent* that it is good for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. ¹¹ Woe to the wicked!* It is bad! For what is done by his hands will be done to him.

¹⁷ Did you not do this to yourself, by forsaking Yahweh, your God, at the time of your leading in the way?

¹⁹ Your wickedness will chastise you, and your apostasies will reprove you. Therefore know and see that it is evil and bitter, your forsaking of Yahweh, your God, and fear of me is not in you," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

¹⁸ "You obtained this for yourself because of your way and your deeds. This is your doom, for it is bitter, yes, it has reached up to your heart."

¹⁸ "Say to the king and to the queen mother, '_⌊Take a lower seat_⌋,* for _⌊your beautiful crown_⌋* has come down from your head.'*

¹ How desolate the city sits that was full of people! She has become like a widow, once great among the nations! Like a woman of nobility in the provinces, she has become a forced laborer.

⁸ Jerusalem sinned grievously, thus she became an objection of derision; all those who honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.

¹⁸ Yahweh is righteous; I have rebelled against _⌊his word_⌋.* Please hear, all the nations, And see my pain; My young women* and young men went into captivity.

¹ How, _⌊in his anger_⌋,* the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud! He has thrown down from heavens to earth the splendor of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of _⌊his anger_⌋.*

¹³ Because of the sins of her prophets, the guilt of her priests, who shed blood in her midst, of righteous people.

¹⁷ All of the hands will hang limp, and all of _⌊the knees will be wet with urine_⌋.* ¹⁸ And they will wear sackcloth, and horror will cover them, and on all of the faces will be shame, and baldness on all of their heads. ¹⁹ Their silver they will discard on the streets, and filth will be their gold; their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They will not satisfy their _⌊hunger_⌋* and their stomachs they will not fill, for their guilt will be their* stumbling block. ²⁰ " 'And the beauty of its* ornament _⌊he made into a prideful thing_⌋* and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them. ²¹ And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it. ²² And I will turn my face from them, and they will defile my treasured place, and violent ones will enter and defile it.

²⁶ thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Remove the turban and lift off the crown; things are no longer the same. Exalt the low and bring low the high.

¹² They take a bribe among* you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain from your neighbors by extortion, and so you have forgotten me, _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh. ¹³ And look! I strike my hand for your ill-gotten gain that you have made and at your blood that was in the midst of you. ¹⁴ Can your heart endure,* or can your hands be strong at the days in which I am dealing with you? I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act! ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your uncleanness from you. ¹⁶ And I will be profaned by you before the eyes of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh." '"

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but held them captive in Tartarus with chains of darkness and handed them over to be kept for judgment, ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a proclaimer of righteousness, _⌊and seven others_⌋* when he* brought a flood on the world of the ungodly, ⁶ and condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, having appointed them as an example for those who are going to be ungodly,

¹⁰ Do not be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and you will experience affliction ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹¹ I am coming quickly! Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may take away your crown.

³⁶ As for* the ones who remain among you, I will bring* fearfulness in their hearts in the land of their enemies; and a sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee like flight _⌊before_⌋* a sword, and they shall fall, but* there shall not be a pursuer.

⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes* and a languishing of your inner self.*

⁷ And my eye has grown dim from grief, and the limbs of my body are all* like a shadow.

⁷ My eye wastes away because of vexation; it grows old because of all my oppressors.

⁹ Be gracious to me, O Yahweh, because I have distress. My eye wastes away because of vexation, along with my soul and my _⌊body_⌋.*

³ I am weary with my calling out; my throat is parched. My eyes are exhausted in my waiting for my God.

⁵ Why do you want to be beaten again? You continue in rebellion. The whole of the head is sick, and the whole of the heart is faint.

¹⁴ Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weak toward the height. Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!

¹⁸ "My comfort is gone from me, sorrow is on me, my heart is sick.

⁵ Why do I see them terrified? They are turning back and their warriors are beaten down. And they have fled to a place of refuge and they do not turn back. Terror is from all around," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

¹³ From heaven he sent fire, into my bones he let it descend. He spread out a net for my feet; he turned me back, he gave me devastation, fainting all day.

²² Let all their evil come before you; and deal with them just as you have dealt with me because of all my crimes; for my groaning is much and my heart is faint.

¹¹ My eyes have _⌊spent all their tears_⌋;* _⌊my stomach_⌋* is in torment, _⌊my heart_⌋* is poured out on the earth because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because child and babe faint in the public squares of a city.

⁷ _⌊And then_⌋* when they say to you, 'On account of what are you groaning?' then you must say, 'On account of the report, for it is coming, and every heart will be weak and all hands will hang limp and every spirit will be disheartened, and all knees will go like water.' Look! It is coming, and it will happen!" _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵ so that a heart melts, and the fallen _⌊multiply_⌋* at all of their gates. I gave a sword for slaughter, and alas! It is made for flashing, it is grasped* for slaughtering.

¹³ And I also _⌊have made you sick by striking you down_⌋,* making you desolate because of your sins.

⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, even the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. ⁸ This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, 'On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?'

² Remember your congregation that you bought long ago, when you redeemed the tribe of your inheritance. Remember _⌊Mount Zion_⌋* where you have dwelt. ³ Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins, to all that the enemy has ruined in the sanctuary.

¹³ over the soil of my people. It goes up in thorns* and briers,* indeed over all of the houses of joy in the jubilant city. ¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken, the _⌊crowded city_⌋* deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become* a cave forever, the joy of wild asses, a pasture _⌊for_⌋* flocks.

¹¹ And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, _⌊without inhabitants_⌋.*

³ O my mountain in the open country, I will give your wealth, all your treasures, for spoil, your high places, because of your sin, throughout all your territories.

⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be in ruins, _⌊without_⌋* inhabitant'?" And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.

¹³ And he burned the _⌊temple_⌋* of Yahweh, and the palace* of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burned with fire.

⁸ Yahweh has planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He measured with a line; he has not restrained his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to mourn; together they have languished away. ⁹ Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes are among the nations; there is no more law.* Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.

¹² Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and _⌊the temple mount_⌋* as a high place in a forest.

²⁷ The God of _⌊ancient time_⌋* is a hiding place, and underneath are the arms of eternity,* and he drove out _⌊from before_⌋* you your enemy, and he said, 'Destroy them!'

⁷ But Yahweh sits enthroned forever. He has established his throne for judgment.

¹⁶ Yahweh is king forever and ever; the nations have perished from his land.

¹⁰ Yahweh sits enthroned at the flood, and Yahweh sits as king forever.

⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

² Before the mountains were born and you brought forth the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

¹² But you, O Yahweh, abide* forever, and your remembrance* _⌊from generation to generation_⌋.*

²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. ²⁶ They will perish, but you will endure. And like a garment they will all wear out, you will replace them like clothing, and they will be set aside. ²⁷ But you are the same, and your years do not end.

¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures _⌊throughout all generations_⌋.*

¹⁰ Yahweh will reign forever, Your God, O Zion, _⌊throughout all generations_⌋.* Praise Yah.*

⁴⁴ And _⌊in the day of those kings_⌋,* the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will _⌊never_⌋* be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left for another nation,* and it will bring an end to all these kingdoms, but it will stand _⌊forever_⌋.*

¹⁴ And to him was given dominion and glory and kingship that* all the peoples, the nations, and languages would serve him; his dominion is a dominion _⌊without end_⌋* that will not cease, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

²⁷ And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the nation of the holy ones* of the Most High; his kingdom _⌊is an everlasting kingdom_⌋,* and all the dominions will serve and obey him.'

¹² Are you not from of old, O Yahweh my God, my Holy One? You* shall not die. O Yahweh, you have marked them* for judgment; O Rock, you have established them* for reproof.

¹⁷ Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, to the only God, be honor and glory _⌊forever and ever_⌋*. Amen.

¹⁵ which he will make known in his own time, the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of those who reign as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, ¹⁶ the one who alone possesses immortality, who lives in unapproachable light, whom no human being has seen nor is able to see, to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

⁸ but concerning the Son,
"Your throne, O God, is _⌊forever and ever_⌋*, and the scepter of righteous is the scepter of your kingdom. ⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; because of this God, your God, has anointed you with the olive oil of joy more than 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 continue, and they will all become old like a garment, ¹² and like a robe you will roll them up, and like a garment they will be changed; but you are the same, and your years will not run out."*

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and _⌊forever_⌋*.

⁴ John, to the seven churches in Asia:* grace to you and peace from the one who is and the one who was and the one who is coming, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

⁸ I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, the one who is and the one who was and the one who is coming, the All-Powerful.

¹⁷ And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person, and he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the one who lives, and I was dead, and behold, I am living _⌊forever and ever_⌋*, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades.

¹ For the music director. A psalm of David.*
How long, O Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

²⁴ Why do you hide your face? Have you forgotten our misery and our oppression?

¹ A maskil of Asaph.*
Why, O God, have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

⁷ Will the Lord reject us forever, and will he never be pleased with us again? ⁸ Has his loyal love ceased forever? Is his promise* ended throughout generations? ⁹ Has God forgotten to have compassion? Or has he closed off his mercies in anger? Selah ¹⁰ So I said, "This pierces me—* the right hand of the Most High has changed."

⁵ How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?

⁵ Will you be angry against us forever? Will you prolong your anger generation after generation?

⁴⁶ How long, O Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire forever?

³ How long will the wicked, O Yahweh, how long will the wicked exult? ⁴ _⌊They gush words_⌋* unrestrained. All the evildoers boast.

⁹ You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh, and you must not remember iniquity forever!
Look! Behold, now! We all are your people! ¹⁰ _⌊Your holy cities_⌋* have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ _⌊Our holy and beautiful temple_⌋,* where our ancestors* praised you has _⌊been burned_⌋* by fire, and all our precious objects have become ruins.* ¹² Will you control yourself because of these, Yahweh? Will you be silent? And will you oppress us exceedingly?

¹⁹ Have you completely rejected Judah? Or has your soul* loathed Zion? Why have you struck us so that there is no healing for us? We hope for peace, but there is no good, and for a time of healing, but look, there is terror. ²⁰ We know, O Yahweh, our wickedness, the iniquity of our ancestors,* for we have sinned against you. ²¹ You must not spurn us* for the sake of your name, you must not dishonor _⌊your glorious throne_⌋.* Remember us!* You must not break your covenant with us.

³⁷ Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me; that this people may know that you, O Yahweh, are God and that you have turned their hearts back again."

³ O God, restore us, and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.

⁷ O God of hosts, restore us and cause your face to shine that we may be saved.

¹⁹ O Yahweh God of hosts, restore us; cause your face to shine that we may be saved.

⁴ Restore us, O God of our salvation, and annul your vexation with us.

⁴ I will again build you, and you will be built, O virgin Israel. You will again adorn yourself with your tambourines, and you will go forth in the dancing in a ring of the merrymakers.

¹⁸ Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, 'You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a calf that is not trained. Bring me back and let me return, for you are Yahweh my God.

²³ Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "They will again say these words* in the land of Judah and in its towns at my restoring their fortunes,*
'Yahweh bless you, O settlement of righteousness, O hill of holiness.' ²⁴ And Judah and all of its towns together will live in it, farmers and those who travel with the flocks.* ²⁵ For I will saturate the thirst of the weary, and every person who languishes I will replenish."

³⁹ And I will give to them one heart and one way, to revere me _⌊forever_⌋,* for good to them, and to their children after them. ⁴⁰ And I will _⌊make_⌋* with them _⌊an everlasting covenant_⌋* that I will not turn away from them, my doing good to them, and my reverence I will put in their hearts* so that they will not turn aside from me.

¹⁰ "Thus says Yahweh: 'Again will be heard in this place, of which you are saying, "It is a waste, _⌊without_⌋* people and _⌊without_⌋* animals,"* in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, _⌊without_⌋* people and _⌊without_⌋* inhabitants* and _⌊without_⌋* animals,*

¹³ In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negev, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the counter,' says Yahweh.

¹⁹ And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will give* in their inner parts. And I will remove their* heart of stone from their body, and I will give to them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God.

²⁵ And I will sprinkle on you pure water, and you will be clean from all of your uncleanness, and I will cleanse you from all of your idols. ²⁶ And I will give a new heart to you, and a new spirit I will give* into your inner parts, and I will remove the* heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give to you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will give* my spirit into your inner parts, and I will make it so that you will go* in my rules, and my regulations you will remember, and you will do them.

³⁷ "Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Again this time I will let _⌊myself be inquired of_⌋* by the house of Israel, to do something for them; I will cause them to increase _⌊their population like a flock_⌋.*

³ Thus says Yahweh: 'I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be called the faithful city,* and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts will be called the holy mountain.' ⁴ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Old men and old women shall again sit in the public squares of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand* _⌊because of great age_⌋.* ⁵ And the public squares of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its public squares.' ⁶ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Even if it seems impossible* _⌊to the remnant_⌋* of this people in those days, should it also seem impossible* _⌊to me_⌋?'* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh of hosts.

⁴ And the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Yahweh, like in the days of old and like in former years.

⁹ Surely you have rejected and disgraced us, and have not gone out with our armies.

¹ For the music director, according to Shushan Eduth.* A miktam of David. To teach. When he fought Mesopotamia and Aram Zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand persons.*
O God, you have rejected us. You have broken us. You have been angry. Restore us! ² You have made the land quake. You have split it open. Heal its fissures, because it totters.

⁹ You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh, and you must not remember iniquity forever!
Look! Behold, now! We all are your people!

¹ Then Yahweh said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood _⌊before me_⌋,* my heart would not be to this people. Send them away from my _⌊sight_⌋,* and let them go out. ² _⌊And then_⌋* if they say to you, 'Where shall we go?' Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh,
"Those who are destined for the plague, to the plague, and those who are destined for the sword, to the sword, and those who are destined for the famine, to the famine, and those who are destined for the captivity, to the captivity." ' ³ "And I will summon* over them four types of calamity," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds* of the air and the wild animals* of the earth to devour and to destroy. ⁴ And I will make them a terror to all of the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem. ⁵ "For who will have compassion on you, O Jerusalem, or who will show sympathy to you, or who will turn aside _⌊to ask about your welfare_⌋?*

¹¹ And he said to me, "Son of man,* these bones are all of the house of Israel; look! they are saying, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; _⌊we are cut off as far as we are concerned_⌋.'*

⁶ And she conceived again and bore a daughter, and he* said to him,
"_⌊Name her_⌋* Lo-ruhamah,* for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or _⌊forgive them_⌋.*