The Daily Audio Bible
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3 Afflicted, I have seen and know what it’s like
to feel the rod of God’s anger:
2 An absence of light and only darkness.
Darkness—that’s where God has driven me.
3 Against me and me alone, over and over,
God raises His hand incessantly.
4 Bones are broken, skin rubbed off, and my flesh wasted;
this is God’s doing:
5 Besieged in hardship,
wrapped in a husk of bitter poison and trouble;
6 Brought to darkness like those dead and decaying,
and left there alone to live.
7 Cut off from every avenue of escape, God has fenced me in
and tied me up with heavy chains.
8 Crying and carrying on do me no good;
God shuts out my prayer.
9 Closed in and blocked by walls of cut stone,
what paths I have left, He has twisted and confused my steps.
10 Dangerous as a stalking lion or a lurking bear,
God lies in wait for me.
11 Dragging me off the path and tearing me up,
He has left me desolate.
12 Drawing back His bow, God aims
straight at me with His own arrow.
13 Ever true arrows, ready in His quiver,
now sink into my gut.
14 Echoing taunts ring ’round me from the mouths of my own people,
laughing and joking about me all day long.
15 Enough! He has filled me with bitterness,
saturated me with gall.
16 For He crushes my teeth with a mouth filled with gravel;
He humiliates me, trampling me in ashes.
17 Fragmented, my self knows no peace.
I cannot remember what it’s like to be happy.
18 “Failed,” I say to myself. “My hope fails
in the face of what the Eternal One has done.”
19 Grievous thoughts of affliction and wandering plagued my mind—
great bitterness and gall.
20 Grieving, my soul thinks back;
these thoughts cripple, and I sink down.
21 Gaining hope,
I remember and wait for this thought:
22 How enduring is God’s loyal love;
the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion.
23 Here they are, every morning, new!
Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day.
24 Have courage, for the Eternal is all that I will need.
My soul boasts, “Hope in God; just wait.”
25 It is good. The Eternal One is good to those who expect Him,
to those who seek Him wholeheartedly.
26 It is good to wait quietly
for the Eternal to make things right again.
27 It is good to have to deal
with restraint and burdens when young.
28 Just leave in peace the one who waits in silence,
patiently bearing the burden of God;
29 Just don’t interfere if he falls, gape-mouthed in the dust.
There may well be hope yet.
30 Just let him offer his cheek when struck.
Let him be the butt of jokes.
This is the heart of the lament. Pain and despair are deep and lasting, but God’s rejection is not forever because Jerusalem is the city of the Lord.
31 Kept in God’s care:
the Lord won’t reject him forever.
32 Kindness prevails: Even though God torments sometimes,
the greatness of God’s loyal love wins out.
33 Keeping us down: it is not the desire or way of God’s heart
to hurt and grieve the children of men.
Hope is realized when the next generation of exiles in Babylonia receive God’s mercy and are brought back to the promised land, Palestine, in a second exodus, a journey not unlike what the Israelites experienced as they left Egypt under Moses’ leadership.
God surely causes grief and torment, but He also provides kindness that originates from His heart of compassion. The discipline administered by the heavenly Father hurts, but the pain is not lasting and actually reflects His compassion. When the Lord sends affliction, it is instructive, restorative, and temporary. Affliction and judgment may sometimes come from the Almighty, but what always springs from the heart of God is a deep and eternal mercy for His people.
34 Left as captives of the land
to be stomped on and crushed,
35 Legal action and human rights denied
in the very presence of our exalted God,
36 Lord, surely You do not approve it—they deny
one person’s rights and a fair trial.
37 Matters not who says a thing will or won’t happen
unless the Lord determines that it should.
38 Most High God must proclaim it so—
for both good and bad, joy and sorrow come from Him, so
39 Mind your complaint. Why should a person fuss
when faced with the consequences of his own wrongdoing?
40 Now let’s search out our thoughts and ways
and return to the Eternal.
41 Now let’s lift up to God in heaven
our hearts along with our hands in praise and supplication.
42 Now, let us admit that we persisted in wrong
and You, God, were right to deny us forgiveness.
43 You have wrapped Yourself in anger.
You hunted us down and became our merciless killer.
44 Our prayers couldn’t penetrate the cloud
You then wrapped around Yourself.
45 Oh, we are trash: You’ve made us so
in the eyes of all people.
46 Putting us down, our enemies scoff.
They gape and gawk at us.
47 Panic and pitfalls are all around us,
nothing but breakdown and decay.
48 Pouring out from my eyes are tears like rivers
over the destruction of my people, daughter Zion.
49 Quenched? It can’t be quenched,
this sorrow in my eyes,
50 Quelled only by knowing that
the Eternal looks down from heaven and sees.
51 Quickly I recoil from what my eyes see; I am choked with grief
at the fate of the young women of my city.
52 Running me down, my enemies for no reason
hunt me, a tiny bird.
53 Rattling my bones with stones thrown down on my head,
having flung me mercilessly in a pit.
54 ’Round about me and over me, watery darkness closes in.
I cry out, “I’m drowning! All is lost, lost.”
55 Saying Your name, Eternal One, I called to You
from the darkness of this pit.
56 Surely You’ve heard me say,
“Don’t be deaf to my call; bring me relief!”
57 So close when I’ve called out in my distress,
You’ve whispered in my ear, “Do not be afraid.”
58 Taking up my cause, Lord, You’ve been my champion.
You’ve paid the price; You saved my life.
59 Terrible things have been done to me. You’ve seen it, Eternal One.
Judge my case with justice.
60 Their abuses against me are not hidden from You.
You’ve seen all the awful things my enemies determine to do to me.
61 Ugly words and uglier plans they have for me—
You’ve heard it all, Eternal One.
62 Under their breath, my adversaries whispering about me,
devising nasty schemes all the time.
63 Unkind jokes at my expense,
whether they’re sitting around or going to and fro.
64 Villains You will return to their recompense,
Eternal One, according to their deeds.
65 Visit them with anguish and an insensitivity to Your words.
Make Your curse fall hard on them.
66 Vehemently pummel them. Chase them down, obliterate them
from below the heavens of the Eternal, from the earth itself.
1 Long ago, at different times and in various ways, God’s voice came to our ancestors through the Hebrew prophets. 2 But in these last days, it has come to us through His Son, the One who has been given dominion over all things and through whom all worlds were made.
3 This is the One who—imprinted with God’s image, shimmering with His glory—sustains all that exists through the power of His word. He was seated at the right hand of God once He Himself had made the offering that purified us from all our sins. 4 This Son of God is elevated as far above the heavenly messengers as His holy name is elevated above theirs.
Most images of angels are influenced by art and pop culture—and are far removed from the Bible. The word “angel” literally means “messenger,” and it can refer to either a human being or a heavenly being. The Hebrews author is writing about heavenly messengers.
In the Bible, heavenly messengers have several functions—executors of God’s judgment, guardians of God’s people, heralds of God’s plans. They appear at critical moments to chosen people who play important roles in God’s salvation, such as arriving to announce the birth and resurrection of Jesus and to transmit God’s law to Moses. They are no more than messengers, created beings, who serve the will of God and His Son. Recognizing their place, they bow before the Son in loving adoration.
5 For no heavenly messengers have ever heard God address them with these words of the psalms:
You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father.[a]
Or heard Him promise,
I will be to You a Father,
and You will be My Son.[b]
6 Now, when the Son, the firstborn of God, was brought into the world, God said,
Let all My heavenly messengers worship Him.[c]
7 Concerning them, God said,
I make My heavenly messengers like the winds,
and My servants like a flame.[d]
8 But to the Son He said,
God, Your throne is eternal;
You will rule Your kingdom with the scepter of justice.
9 You have loved what is right
and hated what is evil;
That is why God, Your God, has anointed You
with the oil of gladness and lifted You above Your companions.[e]
10 And God continues,
In the beginning, You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth
and set the skies above us with Your own hands.
11 But while they will someday pass away,
You remain forever;
when they wear out like old clothes,
12 You will roll them up
and change them into something new.
But You will never change;
Your years will never come to an end.[f]
13 Did God ever say to any of the heavenly messengers,
Sit here, at My right hand, in the seat of honor;
and I’ll put all Your enemies under Your feet?[g]
14 No, of course not. The heavenly messengers are only spirits and servants, sent out to minister to those who will certainly inherit salvation.
Psalm 102
A prayer of the weak and oppressed, when he turns his complaints to the Eternal.
1 Hear me, O Eternal One, hear my prayer!
Hear my lonely desperate cry for help.
2 Do not hide from me
when my days are filled with anguish;
Lend Your ear to my wailing,
and answer me quickly when I call.
3 For my days come and go, vanishing like smoke,
and my bones are charred like bricks of a hearth.
4 My heart is beaten down like grass withered and scorched in the summer heat;
I can’t even remember to eat.
5 My body is shaken by my groans;
my bones cling to my skin, holding on for dear life.
6 I am like a solitary owl in the wilderness;
I am a lost and lonely screech owl at home in the rubble.
7 I stare at the ceiling, awake in my bed;
I am alone, a defenseless sparrow perched on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies chide me;
those who mock me spit out my name as a curse.
9 For ashes have become my bread;
my tears fall into my drink
10 Because of the depth of Your wrath.
You have brought me up
and then hurled me aside.
11 My days go by like a long shadow—stretched thin and disappearing—
I shrivel up like grass baked in the hot sun.
12 But You, O Eternal One, remain forever,
and Your name endures to all generations.
13 You will rise up once again and remember Your love for Zion;
it is time to have mercy on Your city;
yes, it is the divinely appointed time.
14 Your faithful servants take pleasure in her every stone;
they even delight in the dust of her streets.
15 Days are coming when nations will tremble at the name of the Eternal;
all the rulers of the earth will bow down to Your glory.
16 For He will return to rebuild His city, Zion;
He will be seen in His splendor.
17 He will listen to the prayer of the impoverished
and welcome their prayers.
18 Let this record be kept for posterity
so that people not yet born may praise the Eternal.
19 Tell them that He looked down from holy heights, His heavenly sanctuary;
the Eternal looked down from heaven and closely watched the earth,
20 Hearing the prisoners’ groans—
releasing those awaiting execution—
21 That the name of the Eternal would resound in Zion,
and His praise would be proclaimed in Jerusalem
22 When the peoples gather
and the nations’ leaders assemble to worship the Eternal.
23 Along my way He has sapped my strength;
He has shortened my days here on earth.
24 I said, “O my True God, don’t take me away
in the middle of my life;
Unlike me, Your years continually unfold
throughout all generations.”
25 In the beginning, You laid the foundation of the earth
and set the skies above us with Your own hands.
26 But while they will someday pass away, You remain forever;
when they wear out like old clothes,
You will roll them up and change them into something new, and they will pass away.
27 But You are the same, You will never change;
Your years will never come to an end.[a]
28 The children of those who serve You will enjoy a good, long life;
their offspring will stand strong before You.
21 Like charcoal to smoldering embers and dry wood to a fire,
so a hot-tempered man kindles strife.
22 Whispered gossip is like a delicious first course:
it is devoured with pleasure and then penetrates deep within you.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.