Lamentations 1-2

English Standard Version

How Lonely Sits the City

1 ^(A)How lonely sits the city
    that was full of people!
How like ^(B)a widow has she become,
    she who was great among the nations!
She who was ^(C)a princess among the provinces
    has become ^(D)a slave.

²^(E)She weeps bitterly in the night,
    with tears on her cheeks;
^(F)among all her lovers
    she has ^(G)none to comfort her;
^(H)all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
    they have become her enemies.

³^(I)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction^[a]
    and hard servitude;
^(J)she dwells now among the nations,
    ^(K)but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
    in the midst of her distress.^[b]

⁴The roads to Zion mourn,
    for none come to ^(L)the festival;
^(M)all her gates are desolate;
    her priests ^(N)groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,^[c]
    and she herself suffers bitterly.

⁵^(O)Her foes have become the head;
    her ^(P)enemies prosper,
because ^(Q)the Lord has afflicted her
    ^(R)for the multitude of her transgressions;
^(S)her children have gone away,
    captives before the foe.

⁶From the daughter of Zion
    all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
    ^(T)that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
    before the pursuer.

⁷Jerusalem remembers
    in the days of her affliction and wandering
^(U)all the precious things
    that were hers from ^(V)days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
    and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
    they ^(W)mocked at her downfall.

⁸^(X)Jerusalem sinned grievously;
    therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
    ^(Y)for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^(Z)groans
    and turns her face away.

⁹Her uncleanness was ^(AA)in her skirts;
    ^(AB)she took no thought of her future;^[d]
therefore her fall is terrible;
    ^(AC)she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
    for the enemy has ^(AD)triumphed!”

¹⁰The enemy has stretched out his hands
    over all her ^(AE)precious things;
for she has seen ^(AF)the nations
    enter her sanctuary,
those whom you ^(AG)forbade
    to enter your congregation.

¹¹All her people ^(AH)groan
    as ^(AI)they search for bread;
they trade their ^(AJ)treasures for ^(AK)food
    to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
    for I am despised.”

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all ^(AL)you who pass by?
    ^(AM)Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
    which was brought upon me,
which ^(AN)the Lord inflicted
    on ^(AO)the day of his fierce anger.

¹³“From on high he ^(AP)sent fire;
    into my bones^[e] he made it descend;
^(AQ)he spread a net for my feet;
    he turned me back;
^(AR)he has left me stunned,
    faint all the day long.

¹⁴“My transgressions were bound^[f] into ^(AS)a yoke;
    by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
    he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
    of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁵“The Lord rejected
    all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
    to crush my young men;
^(AT)the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
    the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“For these things ^(AU)I weep;
    my eyes flow with tears;
for ^(AV)a comforter is far from me,
    one to ^(AW)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed.”

¹⁷^(AX)Zion stretches out her hands,
    but ^(AY)there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
    that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
    a filthy thing among them.

¹⁸^(AZ)“The Lord is in the right,
    ^(BA)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
    and see my suffering;
^(BB)my young women and my young men
    have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called to ^(BC)my lovers,
    but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
    perished in the city,
while ^(BD)they sought food
    to revive their strength.

²⁰“Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    ^(BE)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
    because I have been very rebellious.
^(BF)In the street the sword bereaves;
    in the house it is like death.

²¹“They heard^[g] ^(BG)my groaning,
    yet ^(BH)there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
    ^(BI)they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought^[h] the day you announced;
    ^(BJ)now let them be as I am.

²²^(BK)“Let all their evildoing come before you,
    and deal with them
as ^(BL)you have dealt with me
    because of all my transgressions;
for ^(BM)my groans are many,
    and ^(BN)my heart is faint.”

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

2 How the Lord in his anger
    has set the daughter of Zion ^(BO)under a cloud!
^(BP)He has cast down from heaven to earth
    the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered ^(BQ)his footstool
    in the day of his anger.

²The Lord ^(BR)has swallowed up ^(BS)without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^(BT)he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^(BU)down to the ground ^(BV)in dishonor
    the kingdom ^(BW)and its rulers.

³He has cut down in ^(BX)fierce anger
    all ^(BY)the might of Israel;
^(BZ)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
    in the face of the enemy;
^(CA)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
    consuming all around.

⁴^(CB)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set ^(CC)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

⁵^(CD)The Lord has become like an enemy;
    ^(CE)he has swallowed up Israel;
^(CF)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    ^(CG)mourning and lamentation.

⁶He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins ^(CH)his meeting place;
^(CI)the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and ^(CJ)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

⁷^(CK)The Lord has scorned his altar,
    ^(CL)disowned his sanctuary;
^(CM)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
    the walls of her palaces;
^(CN)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of festival.

⁸^(CO)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
    ^(CP)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
^(CQ)he stretched out the measuring line;
    he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^(CR)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
    ^(CS)they languished together.

⁹Her gates have sunk into the ground;
    ^(CT)he has ruined ^(CU)and broken her bars;
^(CV)her king and princes are among the nations;
    the law is no more,
and ^(CW)her prophets find
    no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion
    ^(CX)sit on the ground ^(CY)in silence;
^(CZ)they have thrown dust on their heads
    and ^(DA)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.

¹¹^(DB)My eyes are spent with weeping;
    ^(DC)my stomach churns;
^(DD)my bile is poured out to the ground
    ^(DE)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^(DF)because infants and babies ^(DG)faint
    in the streets of the city.

¹²They cry to their mothers,
    ^(DH)“Where is bread and wine?”
^(DI)as they faint like a wounded man
    in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
    on their mothers' bosom.

¹³What can I say for you, ^(DJ)to what compare you,
    O daughter of Jerusalem?
^(DK)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
    O virgin daughter of Zion?
^(DL)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
    who can heal you?

¹⁴^(DM)Your prophets have seen for you
    false and deceptive visions;
^(DN)they have not exposed your iniquity
    to ^(DO)restore your fortunes,
^(DP)but have seen for you ^(DQ)oracles
    that are false and misleading.

¹⁵All who pass along the way
    clap their hands at you;
^(DR)they hiss and wag their heads
    at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
    ^(DS)the perfection of beauty,
    ^(DT)the joy of all the earth?”

¹⁶^(DU)All your enemies
    rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
    they cry: “We ^(DV)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
    now we have it; ^(DW)we see it!”

¹⁷The Lord has done what he purposed;
    he has carried out ^(DX)his word,
which he commanded ^(DY)long ago;
    ^(DZ)he has thrown down ^(EA)without pity;
^(EB)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
    and exalted the ^(EC)might of your foes.

¹⁸Their heart cried to the Lord.
    O ^(ED)wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(EE)let tears stream down like a torrent
    ^(EF)day and night!
^(EG)Give yourself no rest,
    ^(EH)your eyes no respite!

¹⁹“Arise, ^(EI)cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
^(EJ)Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord!
^(EK)Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
^(EL)who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.”

²⁰Look, O Lord, and see!
    ^(EM)With whom have you dealt thus?
^(EN)Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
    the children of ^(EO)their tender care?
Should ^(EP)priest and prophet be killed
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹In the dust of the streets
    ^(EQ)lie the young and the old;
^(ER)my young women and my young men
    have fallen by the sword;
^(ES)you have killed them in the day of your anger,
    slaughtering ^(ET)without pity.

²²You summoned as if to ^(EU)a festival day
    ^(EV)my terrors on every side,
^(EW)and on the day of the anger of the Lord
    no one escaped or survived;
^(EX)those whom I held and raised
    my enemy destroyed.

Footnotes

Lamentations 1:3 Or under affliction
Lamentations 1:3 Or in the narrow passes
Lamentations 1:4 Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away
Lamentations 1:9 Or end
Lamentations 1:13 Septuagint; Hebrew bones and
Lamentations 1:14 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Lamentations 1:21 Septuagint, Syriac Hear
Lamentations 1:21 Syriac Bring

Proverbs 21

English Standard Version

21 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
    he ^(A)turns it wherever he will.
²^(B)Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
    but the Lord ^(C)weighs the heart.
³^(D)To do righteousness and justice
    is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
⁴^(E)Haughty eyes and a proud heart,
    ^(F)the lamp^[a] of the wicked, are sin.
⁵The plans of ^(G)the diligent lead surely to abundance,
    but everyone who is ^(H)hasty comes ^(I)only to poverty.
⁶^(J)The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
    is a ^(K)fleeting ^(L)vapor and a ^(M)snare of death.^[b]
⁷The violence of the wicked will ^(N)sweep them away,
    because they refuse to do what is just.
⁸The way of the guilty ^(O)is crooked,
    but the conduct of the pure is upright.
⁹It is ^(P)better to live in a corner of the housetop
    than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil;
    his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
¹¹When ^(Q)a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise;
    when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.
¹²The Righteous One ^(R)observes the house of the wicked;
    he throws the wicked down to ruin.
¹³^(S)Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
    will himself call out and not be answered.
¹⁴^(T)A gift in secret averts anger,
    and a concealed bribe,^[c] strong wrath.
¹⁵When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous
    ^(U)but terror to evildoers.
¹⁶One who wanders from the way of good sense
    ^(V)will rest in the assembly of the dead.
¹⁷Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man;
    he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
¹⁸^(W)The wicked is a ^(X)ransom for the righteous,
    and the traitor for the upright.
¹⁹It is ^(Y)better to live in a desert land
    than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.
²⁰^(Z)Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling,
    but a foolish man ^(AA)devours it.
²¹Whoever ^(AB)pursues righteousness and kindness
    will find ^(AC)life, righteousness, and honor.
²²^(AD)A wise man scales the city of the mighty
    and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
²³^(AE)Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue
    ^(AF)keeps himself out of ^(AG)trouble.
²⁴^(AH)“Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man
    who acts with arrogant pride.
²⁵The desire of ^(AI)the sluggard kills him,
    for his hands refuse to labor.
²⁶All day long he craves and craves,
    but the righteous ^(AJ)gives and does not hold back.
²⁷^(AK)The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination;
    how much more ^(AL)when he brings it with evil intent.
²⁸^(AM)A false witness will perish,
    but the word of a man who hears will endure.
²⁹A wicked man puts on a bold face,
    but the upright ^(AN)gives thought to^[d] his ways.
³⁰^(AO)No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel
    can avail against the Lord.
³¹^(AP)The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
    but ^(AQ)the victory belongs to the Lord.

Footnotes

Proverbs 21:4 Or the plowing
Proverbs 21:6 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Latin; most Hebrew manuscripts vapor for those who seek death
Proverbs 21:14 Hebrew a bribe in the bosom
Proverbs 21:29 Or establishes

James 1

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 ^(A)James, a servant^[a] of God and ^(B)of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To ^(C)the twelve tribes in ^(D)the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Testing of Your Faith

²^(E)Count it all joy, my brothers,^[b] when you meet trials ^(F)of various kinds, ³for you know that ^(G)the testing of your faith ^(H)produces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be ^(I)perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵^(J)If any of you lacks wisdom, ^(K)let him ask God, ^(L)who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶But ^(M)let him ask in faith, ^(N)with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like ^(O)a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸^(P)he is a double-minded man, ^(Q)unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰and ^(R)the rich in his humiliation, because ^(S)like a flower of the grass^[c] he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and ^(T)withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

¹²^(U)Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive ^(V)the crown of life, ^(W)which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then desire ^(X)when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and ^(Y)sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷^(Z)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from ^(AA)the Father of lights, ^(AB)with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.^[d] ¹⁸^(AC)Of his own will he ^(AD)brought us forth by the word of truth, ^(AE)that we should be a kind of ^(AF)firstfruits of his creatures.

Hearing and Doing the Word

¹⁹^(AG)Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person ^(AH)be quick to hear, ^(AI)slow to speak, ^(AJ)slow to anger; ²⁰for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹Therefore ^(AK)put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with ^(AL)meekness the implanted word, ^(AM)which is able to save your souls.

²²But be ^(AN)doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵But the one who looks into the perfect law, ^(AO)the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, ^(AP)he will be blessed in his doing.

²⁶If anyone thinks he is religious ^(AQ)and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's ^(AR)religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: ^(AS)to visit ^(AT)orphans and widows in their affliction, and ^(AU)to keep oneself ^(AV)unstained from the world.

Footnotes

James 1:1 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
James 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 16, 19
James 1:10 Or a wild flower
James 1:17 Some manuscripts variation due to a shadow of turning