Lamentations 3-5

New King James Version

The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
²He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
³Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.

⁴He has aged ^(A)my flesh and my skin,
And ^(B)broken my bones.
⁵He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and ^[a]woe.
⁶^(C)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.

⁷^(D)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
⁸Even ^(E)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
⁹He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰^(F)He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in ^[b]ambush.
¹¹He has turned aside my ways and ^(G)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
¹²He has bent His bow
And ^(H)set me up as a target for the arrow.

¹³He has caused ^(I)the ^[c]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my ^[d]loins.
¹⁴I have become the ^(J)ridicule of all my people—
^(K)Their taunting song all the day.
¹⁵^(L)He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.

¹⁶He has also broken my teeth ^(M)with gravel,
And ^[e]covered me with ashes.
¹⁷You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten ^[f]prosperity.
¹⁸^(N)And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”

¹⁹Remember my affliction and roaming,
^(O)The wormwood and the ^[g]gall.
²⁰My soul still remembers
And ^[h]sinks within me.
²¹This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have ^(P)hope.

²²^(Q)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions ^(R)fail not.
²³They are new ^(S)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴“The Lord is my ^(T)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ^(U)hope in Him!”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who ^(V)wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
²⁶It is good that one should ^(W)hope ^(X)and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷^(Y)It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.

²⁸^(Z)Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
²⁹^(AA)Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
³⁰^(AB)Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.

³¹^(AC)For the Lord will not cast off forever.
³²Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
³³For ^(AD)He does not afflict ^[i]willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
³⁵To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
³⁶Or subvert a man in his cause—
^(AE)The Lord does not approve.

³⁷Who is he ^(AF)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ^(AG)woe and well-being proceed?
³⁹^(AH)Why should a living man ^[j]complain,
^(AI)A man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
⁴¹^(AJ)Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
⁴²^(AK)We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.

⁴³You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
⁴⁵You have made us an ^(AL)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶^(AM)All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
⁴⁷^(AN)Fear and a snare have come upon us,
^(AO)Desolation and destruction.
⁴⁸^(AP)My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹^(AQ)My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
⁵⁰Till the Lord from heaven
^(AR)Looks down and sees.
⁵¹My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²My enemies ^(AS)without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
⁵³They ^[k]silenced my life ^(AT)in the pit
And ^(AU)threw ^[l]stones at me.
⁵⁴^(AV)The waters flowed over my head;
^(AW)I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵^(AX)I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest ^(AY)pit.
⁵⁶^(AZ)You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
⁵⁷You ^(BA)drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, ^(BB)“Do not fear!”

⁵⁸O Lord, You have ^(BC)pleaded the case for my soul;
^(BD)You have redeemed my life.
⁵⁹O Lord, You have seen ^[m]how I am wronged;
^(BE)Judge my case.
⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,
All their ^(BF)schemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
⁶²The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
⁶³Look at their ^(BG)sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.

⁶⁴^(BH)Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵Give them ^[n]a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
⁶⁶In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
^(BI)From under the heavens of the ^(BJ)Lord.

The Degradation of Zion

4 How the gold has become dim!
How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are ^[o]scattered
At the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,
^[p]Valuable as fine gold,
How they are ^[q]regarded ^(BK)as clay pots,
The work of the hands of the potter!

³Even the jackals present their breasts
To nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is cruel,
^(BL)Like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(BM)The young children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.

⁵Those who ate delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those who were brought up in scarlet
^(BN)Embrace ash heaps.

⁶The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the punishment of the ^(BO)sin of Sodom,
Which was ^(BP)overthrown in a moment,
With no hand to help her!

⁷Her ^[r]Nazirites were ^[s]brighter than snow
And whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Like sapphire in their ^[t]appearance.

⁸Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets;
^(BQ)Their skin clings to their bones,
It has become as dry as wood.

⁹Those slain by the sword are better off
Than those who die of hunger;
For these ^(BR)pine away,
Stricken for lack of the fruits of the ^(BS)field.

¹⁰The hands of the ^(BT)compassionate women
Have ^[u]cooked their ^(BU)own children;
They became ^(BV)food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
^(BW)He has poured out His fierce anger.
^(BX)He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth,
And all inhabitants of the world,
Would not have believed
That the adversary and the enemy
Could ^(BY)enter the gates of Jerusalem—

¹³^(BZ)Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
^(CA)Who shed in her midst
The blood of the just.

¹⁴They wandered blind in the streets;
^(CB)They have defiled themselves with blood,
^(CC)So that no one would touch their garments.

¹⁵They cried out to them,
“Go away, ^(CD)unclean!
Go away, go away,
Do not touch us!”
When they fled and wandered,
Those among the nations said,
“They shall no longer dwell here.”

¹⁶The ^[v]face of the Lord scattered them;
He no longer regards them.
^(CE)The people do not respect the priests
Nor show favor to the elders.

¹⁷Still ^(CF)our eyes failed us,
Watching vainly for our help;
In our watching we watched
For a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸^(CG)They ^[w]tracked our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets.
^(CH)Our end was near;
Our days were over,
For our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were ^(CI)swifter
Than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains
And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The ^(CJ)breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,
^(CK)Was caught in their pits,
Of whom we said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^(CL)Edom,
You who dwell in the land of Uz!
^(CM)The cup shall also pass over to you
And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.

²²^(CN)The punishment of your iniquity ^[x]is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion;
He will no longer send you into captivity.
^(CO)He will punish your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom;
He will uncover your sins!

Prayer for Restoration

5 Remember, ^(CP)O Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold ^(CQ)our reproach!
²^(CR)Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
³We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like ^(CS)widows.

⁴We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
⁵^(CT)They pursue at our ^[y]heels;
We labor and have no rest.
⁶^(CU)We have given our hand ^(CV)to the Egyptians
And the ^(CW)Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

⁷^(CX)Our fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
⁸Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
¹¹They ^(CY)ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
¹²Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
¹³Young men ^(CZ)ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.
¹⁴The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their ^(DA)music.

¹⁵The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into ^(DB)mourning.
¹⁶^(DC)The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷Because of this our heart is faint;
^(DD)Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
¹⁸Because of Mount Zion which is ^(DE)desolate,
With foxes walking about on it.

¹⁹You, O Lord, ^(DF)remain forever;
^(DG)Your throne from generation to generation.
²⁰^(DH)Why do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?
²¹^(DI)Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be ^[z]restored;
Renew our days as of old,
²²Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!

Footnotes

Lamentations 3:5 hardship or weariness
Lamentations 3:10 Lit. secret places
Lamentations 3:13 Lit. sons of
Lamentations 3:13 Lit. kidneys
Lamentations 3:16 Lit. bent me down in
Lamentations 3:17 Lit. good
Lamentations 3:19 bitterness
Lamentations 3:20 Lit. bowed down
Lamentations 3:33 Lit. from His heart
Lamentations 3:39 Or murmur
Lamentations 3:53 LXX put to death
Lamentations 3:53 Lit. a stone on
Lamentations 3:59 Lit. my wrong
Lamentations 3:65 A Jewish tradition sorrow of
Lamentations 4:1 Lit. poured out
Lamentations 4:2 Lit. Weighed against
Lamentations 4:2 reckoned
Lamentations 4:7 Or nobles
Lamentations 4:7 Or purer
Lamentations 4:7 Lit. polishing
Lamentations 4:10 boiled
Lamentations 4:16 Tg. anger
Lamentations 4:18 Lit. hunted
Lamentations 4:22 has been completed
Lamentations 5:5 Lit. necks
Lamentations 5:21 returned

Haggai 1

New King James Version

The Command to Build God’s House^(A)

1 In ^(B)the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by ^(C)Haggai the prophet to ^(D)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^(E)Joshua the son of ^(F)Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ²“Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” ’ ”

³Then the word of the Lord ^(G)came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴“Is it ^(H)time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this ^[a]temple to lie in ruins?” ⁵Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(I)“Consider your ways!

⁶“You have ^(J)sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And ^(K)he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! ⁸Go up to the ^(L)mountains and bring wood and build the ^[b]temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. ⁹^(M)“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, ^(N)I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰Therefore ^(O)the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. ¹¹For I ^(P)called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on ^(Q)all the labor of your hands.”

The People’s Obedience

¹²^(R)Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the Lord. ¹³Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, ^(S)“I am with you, says the Lord.” ¹⁴So ^(T)the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^(U)governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; ^(V)and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, ¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

Footnotes

Haggai 1:4 Lit. house
Haggai 1:8 Lit. house

1 Peter 1

New King James Version

Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the ^[a]pilgrims ^(A)of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²^(B)elect ^(C)according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, ^(D)in sanctification of the Spirit, for ^(E)obedience and ^(F)sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

^(G)Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

A Heavenly Inheritance

³^(H)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ^(I)according to His abundant mercy ^(J)has begotten us again to a living hope ^(K)through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance ^[b]incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, ^(L)reserved in heaven for you, ⁵^(M)who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶^(N)In this you greatly rejoice, though now ^(O)for a little while, if need be, ^(P)you have been ^[c]grieved by various trials, ⁷that ^(Q)the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though ^(R)it is tested by fire, ^(S)may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, ⁸^(T)whom having not ^[d]seen you love. ^(U)Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁹receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, ¹¹searching what, or what manner of time, ^(V)the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ¹²To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to ^[e]us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which ^(W)angels desire to look into.

Living Before God Our Father

¹³Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴as obedient children, not ^(X)conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; ¹⁵^(Y)but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶because it is written, ^(Z)“Be holy, for I am holy.”

¹⁷And if you call on the Father, who ^(AA)without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your ^[f]stay here in fear; ¹⁸knowing that you were not redeemed with ^[g]corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹but ^(AB)with the precious blood of Christ, ^(AC)as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ²⁰^(AD)He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was ^[h]manifest ^(AE)in these last times for you ²¹who through Him believe in God, ^(AF)who raised Him from the dead and ^(AG)gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

The Enduring Word

²²Since you ^(AH)have purified your souls in obeying the truth ^[i]through the Spirit in ^[j]sincere ^(AI)love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³^(AJ)having been born again, not of ^[k]corruptible seed but ^[l]incorruptible, ^(AK)through the word of God which lives and abides ^[m]forever, ²⁴because

^(AL)“All flesh is as grass,
And all ^[n]the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
²⁵^(AM)But the ^[o]word of the Lord endures forever.”