18 Why is my (A)pain perpetual
And my wound incurable,
Which refuses to be healed?
Will You surely be to me (B)like an unreliable stream,
As waters that [a]fail?

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 15:18 Or cannot be trusted

18 Why is my pain unending
    and my wound grievous and incurable?(A)
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
    like a spring that fails.(B)

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15 Why (A)do you cry about your affliction?
Your sorrow is incurable.
Because of the multitude of your iniquities,
Because your sins have increased,
I have done these things to you.

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15 Why do you cry out over your wound,
    your pain that has no cure?(A)
Because of your great guilt and many sins
    I have done these things to you.(B)

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(A)Should I lie concerning my right?
My [a]wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

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Footnotes

  1. Job 34:6 Lit. arrow

Although I am right,
    I am considered a liar;(A)
although I am guiltless,(B)
    his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’(C)

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For her wounds are incurable.
For (A)it has come to Judah;
It has come to the gate of My people—
To Jerusalem.

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For Samaria’s plague(A) is incurable;(B)
    it has spread to Judah.(C)
It has reached the very gate(D) of my people,
    even to Jerusalem itself.

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12 “For thus says the Lord:

(A)‘Your affliction is incurable,
Your wound is severe.

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12 “This is what the Lord says:

“‘Your wound(A) is incurable,
    your injury beyond healing.(B)

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Jeremiah’s Unpopular Ministry

O Lord, You [a]induced me, and I was persuaded;
(A)You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
(B)I am [b]in derision daily;
Everyone mocks me.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 20:7 enticed or persuaded
  2. Jeremiah 20:7 Lit. a laughingstock all the day

Jeremiah’s Complaint

You deceived[a](A) me, Lord, and I was deceived[b];
    you overpowered(B) me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed(C) all day long;
    everyone mocks(D) me.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
  2. Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded

The People Plead for Mercy

19 (A)Have You utterly rejected Judah?
Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that (B)there is no healing for us?
(C)We looked for peace, but there was no good;
And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.

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19 Have you rejected Judah completely?(A)
    Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
    so that we cannot be healed?(B)
We hoped for peace
    but no good has come,
for a time of healing
    but there is only terror.(C)

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Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were (A)ashamed and confounded
(B)And covered their heads.

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The nobles send their servants for water;
    they go to the cisterns
    but find no water.(A)
They return with their jars unfilled;
    dismayed and despairing,
    they cover their heads.(B)

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18 For behold, I have made you this day
(A)A fortified city and an iron pillar,
And bronze walls against the whole land—
Against the kings of Judah,
Against its princes,
Against its priests,
And against the people of the land.
19 They will fight against you,
But they shall not prevail against you.
For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”

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18 Today I have made you(A) a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you but will not overcome(B) you, for I am with you(C) and will rescue(D) you,” declares the Lord.

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Trust in the Salvation of the Lord

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
(A)How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
(B)Enlighten my eyes,
(C)Lest I sleep the sleep of death;

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Psalm 13[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

How long,(A) Lord? Will you forget me(B) forever?
    How long will you hide your face(C) from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts(D)
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?(E)

Look on me(F) and answer,(G) Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes,(H) or I will sleep in death,(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 13:1 In Hebrew texts 13:1-6 is numbered 13:2-6.

My soul also is greatly (A)troubled;
But You, O Lord—how long?

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The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

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

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

(D)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even (E)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
He 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.
11 He has turned aside my ways and (G)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow
And (H)set me up as a target for the arrow.

13 He has caused (I)the [c]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my [d]loins.
14 I 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.

16 He has also broken my teeth (M)with gravel,
And [e]covered me with ashes.
17 You 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.”

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 3:5 hardship or weariness
  2. Lamentations 3:10 Lit. secret places
  3. Lamentations 3:13 Lit. sons of
  4. Lamentations 3:13 Lit. kidneys
  5. Lamentations 3:16 Lit. bent me down in
  6. Lamentations 3:17 Lit. good

[a]I am the man who has seen affliction(A)
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(B)
He has driven me away and made me walk
    in darkness(C) rather than light;
indeed, he has turned his hand against me(D)
    again and again, all day long.

He has made my skin and my flesh grow old(E)
    and has broken my bones.(F)
He has besieged me and surrounded me
    with bitterness(G) and hardship.(H)
He has made me dwell in darkness
    like those long dead.(I)

He has walled me in so I cannot escape;(J)
    he has weighed me down with chains.(K)
Even when I call out or cry for help,(L)
    he shuts out my prayer.(M)
He has barred(N) my way with blocks of stone;
    he has made my paths crooked.(O)

10 Like a bear lying in wait,
    like a lion(P) in hiding,(Q)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled(R) me
    and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow(S)
    and made me the target(T) for his arrows.(U)

13 He pierced(V) my heart
    with arrows from his quiver.(W)
14 I became the laughingstock(X) of all my people;(Y)
    they mock me in song(Z) all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
    and given me gall to drink.(AA)

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;(AB)
    he has trampled me in the dust.(AC)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
    I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”(AD)

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Footnotes

  1. Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.

15 (A)My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook,
(B)Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,
16 Which are dark because of the ice,
And into which the snow vanishes.
17 When it is warm, they cease to flow;
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The paths of their way turn aside,
They go nowhere and perish.
19 The caravans of (C)Tema look,
The travelers of (D)Sheba hope for them.
20 They are (E)disappointed[a] because they were confident;
They come there and are confused.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 6:20 Lit. ashamed

15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,(A)
    as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice
    and swollen with melting snow,(B)
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,
    and in the heat(C) vanish from their channels.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;
    they go off into the wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema(D) look for water,
    the traveling merchants of Sheba(E) look in hope.
20 They are distressed, because they had been confident;
    they arrive there, only to be disappointed.(F)

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