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Jeremiah Shares Israel's Affliction

¹ I am the man who has ^(C1)seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.

² He has driven me and made me walk
In ^(C1)darkness and not in light.

³ Surely against me He has ^(C1)turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.

⁴ He has caused my ^(C1)flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has ^(C2)broken my bones.

⁵ He has ^(C1)besieged and encompassed me with ^(C2)bitterness and hardship.

⁶ In ^(C1)dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.

⁷ He has ^(C1)walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my ^(F1)(C2)chain heavy.

⁸ Even when I cry out and call for help,
He ^(C1)shuts out my prayer.

⁹ He has ^(C1)blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.

¹¹ He has turned aside my ways and ^(C1)torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.

¹² He ^(C1)bent His bow
And ^(C2)set me as a target for the arrow.

¹³ He made the ^(F1)arrows of His ^(C1)quiver
To enter into my ^(F2)inward parts.

¹⁴ I have become a ^(C1)laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking ^(C2)song all the day.

¹⁵ He has ^(C1)filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.

¹⁶ He has ^(C1)broken my teeth with ^(C2)gravel;
He has made me cower in the ^(C3)dust.

¹⁷ My soul has been rejected ^(C1)from peace;
I have forgotten ^(F1)happiness.

¹⁸ So I say, "My strength has perished,
And so has my ^(C1)hope from the LORD."

Hope of Relief in God's Mercy

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my ^(F1)wandering, the ^(C1)wormwood and bitterness.

²⁰ Surely ^(C1)my soul remembers
And is ^(C2)bowed down within me.

²¹ This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have ^(C1)hope.

²² The LORD'S ^(C1)lovingkindnesses ^(F1)indeed never cease,
^(C2)For His compassions never fail.

²³ They are new ^(C1)every morning;
Great is ^(C2)Your faithfulness.

²⁴ "The LORD is my ^(C1)portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I ^(C2)have hope in Him."

²⁵ The LORD is good to those who ^(C1)wait for Him,
To the ^(F1)person who ^(C2)seeks Him.

²⁶ It is good that he ^(C1)waits silently
For the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷ It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth.

²⁸ Let him ^(C1)sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him.

²⁹ Let him ^(F1)put his mouth in the ^(C1)dust,
Perhaps there is ^(C2)hope.

³⁰ Let him give his ^(C1)cheek to ^(F1)the smiter,
Let him be filled with reproach.

³¹ For the Lord will ^(C1)not reject forever,

³² For if He causes grief,
Then He will have ^(C1)compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.

³³ For He ^(C1)does not afflict ^(F1)willingly
Or grieve the sons of men.

³⁴ To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the ^(F1)land,

³⁵ To ^(F1)deprive a man of ^(C1)justice
In the presence of the Most High,

³⁶ To ^(F1)(C1)defraud a man in his lawsuit--
Of these things the Lord does not ^(F2)approve.

³⁷ Who is ^(F1)there who speaks and it ^(C1)comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?

³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ^(F1)(C1)both good and ill go forth?

³⁹ Why should any living ^(F1)mortal, or any man,
Offer ^(C1)complaint ^(F2)in view of his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us ^(C1)examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the LORD.

⁴¹ We ^(C1)lift up our heart ^(F1)and hands
Toward God in heaven;

⁴² We have ^(C1)transgressed and rebelled,
You have ^(C2)not pardoned.

⁴³ You have covered Yourself with ^(C1)anger
And ^(C2)pursued us;
You have slain and ^(C3)have not spared.

⁴⁴ You have ^(C1)covered Yourself with a cloud
So that ^(C2)no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵ You have made us mere ^(C1)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶ All our enemies have ^(C1)opened their mouths against us.

^47 (C1)Panic and pitfall have befallen us,
Devastation and destruction;

⁴⁸ My ^(F1)(C1)eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ My eyes pour down ^(C1)unceasingly,
Without stopping,

⁵⁰ Until the LORD ^(C1)looks down
And sees from heaven.

⁵¹ My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵² My enemies ^(C1)without cause
Hunted me down ^(C2)like a bird;

⁵³ They have silenced ^(F1)me ^(C1)in the pit
And have ^(F2)(C2)placed a stone on me.

⁵⁴ Waters flowed ^(C1)over my head;
I said, "I am cut off!"

⁵⁵ I ^(C1)called on Your name, O LORD,
Out of the lowest pit.

⁵⁶ You have ^(C1)heard my voice,
"^(C2)Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help."

⁵⁷ You ^(C1)drew near when I called on You;
You said, "^(C2)Do not fear!"

⁵⁸ O Lord, You ^(C1)have pleaded my soul's cause;
You have ^(C2)redeemed my life.

⁵⁹ O LORD, You have ^(C1)seen my oppression;
^(C2)Judge my case.

⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance,
All their ^(C1)schemes against me.

⁶¹ You have heard their ^(C1)reproach, O LORD,
All their schemes against me.

⁶² The ^(C1)lips of my assailants and their whispering
Are against me all day long.

⁶³ Look on their ^(C1)sitting and their rising;
^(C2)I am their mocking song.

⁶⁴ You will ^(C1)recompense them, O LORD,
According to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵ You will give them ^(F1)(C1)hardness of heart,
Your curse will be on them.

⁶⁶ You will ^(C1)pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the ^(C2)heavens of the LORD!