In the days of her affliction and wandering
    Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
    that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
    there was no one to help her.(A)
Her enemies looked at her
    and laughed(B) at her destruction.

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We are objects of contempt to our neighbors,
    of scorn(A) and derision to those around us.(B)

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I thought about the former days,(A)
    the years of long ago;
I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

“Will the Lord reject forever?(B)
    Will he never show his favor(C) again?
Has his unfailing love(D) vanished forever?
    Has his promise(E) failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?(F)
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?(G)

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These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:(A)
how I used to go to the house of God(B)
    under the protection of the Mighty One[a]
with shouts of joy(C) and praise(D)
    among the festive throng.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 42:4 See Septuagint and Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.

34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation,(A) by testings,(B) by signs(C) and wonders,(D) by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,(E) or by great and awesome deeds,(F) like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.(G) 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice(H) to discipline(I) you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved(J) your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,(K)

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25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things,(A) but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.(B)

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17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

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11 But now many nations
    are gathered against you.
They say, “Let her be defiled,
    let our eyes gloat(A) over Zion!”

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She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.(A)
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband(B) as at first,(C)
    for then I was better off(D) than now.’

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17 Moreover, our eyes failed,
    looking in vain(A) for help;(B)
from our towers we watched
    for a nation(C) that could not save us.

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15 All who pass your way
    clap their hands at you;(A)
they scoff(B) and shake their heads(C)
    at Daughter Jerusalem:(D)
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,(E)
    the joy of the whole earth?”(F)

16 All your enemies open their mouths
    wide against you;(G)
they scoff and gnash their teeth(H)
    and say, “We have swallowed her up.(I)
This is the day we have waited for;
    we have lived to see it.”(J)

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“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire(A) of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched(B) out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt.(C)

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The Song of the Vineyard

I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:(A)
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.(B)
He built a watchtower(C) in it
    and cut out a winepress(D) as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.(E)

“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.(F)
What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?(G)
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?(H)

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19 He has revealed his word(A) to Jacob,(B)
    his laws and decrees(C) to Israel.
20 He has done this for no other nation;(D)
    they do not know(E) his laws.[a]

Praise the Lord.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 147:20 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint nation; / he has not made his laws known to them

for there our captors(A) asked us for songs,
    our tormentors demanded(B) songs of joy;
    they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”(C)

How can we sing the songs of the Lord(D)
    while in a foreign land?

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I remembered(A) you, God, and I groaned;(B)
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.[a](C)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 77:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 9 and 15.

“How I long for the months gone by,(A)
    for the days when God watched over me,(B)
when his lamp shone on my head
    and by his light I walked through darkness!(C)
Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
    when God’s intimate friendship(D) blessed my house,(E)
when the Almighty was still with me
    and my children(F) were around me,(G)
when my path was drenched with cream(H)
    and the rock(I) poured out for me streams of olive oil.(J)

“When I went to the gate(K) of the city
    and took my seat in the public square,
the young men saw me and stepped aside(L)
    and the old men rose to their feet;(M)
the chief men refrained from speaking(N)
    and covered their mouths with their hands;(O)
10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,(P)
    and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.(Q)
11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
    and those who saw me commended me,(R)
12 because I rescued the poor(S) who cried for help,
    and the fatherless(T) who had none to assist them.(U)
13 The one who was dying blessed me;(V)
    I made the widow’s(W) heart sing.
14 I put on righteousness(X) as my clothing;
    justice was my robe and my turban.(Y)
15 I was eyes(Z) to the blind
    and feet to the lame.(AA)
16 I was a father to the needy;(AB)
    I took up the case(AC) of the stranger.(AD)
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked
    and snatched the victims(AE) from their teeth.(AF)

18 “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,
    my days as numerous as the grains of sand.(AG)
19 My roots will reach to the water,(AH)
    and the dew will lie all night on my branches.(AI)
20 My glory will not fade;(AJ)
    the bow(AK) will be ever new in my hand.’(AL)

21 “People listened to me expectantly,
    waiting in silence for my counsel.(AM)
22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more;(AN)
    my words fell gently on their ears.(AO)
23 They waited for me as for showers
    and drank in my words as the spring rain.(AP)
24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
    the light of my face(AQ) was precious to them.[a](AR)
25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;(AS)
    I dwelt as a king(AT) among his troops;
    I was like one who comforts mourners.(AU)

30 “But now they mock me,(AV)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.(AW)

Footnotes

  1. Job 29:24 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land(A)—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;(B) a land with wheat and barley,(C) vines(D) and fig trees,(E) pomegranates, olive oil and honey;(F) a land where bread(G) will not be scarce and you will lack nothing;(H) a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.(I)

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What other nation is so great(A) as to have their gods near(B) them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws(C) as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

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