Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is ^(A)faint and ^(B)pours out his complaint before the Lord.

⁸ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(A)Do not let your prophets and ^(B)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^{[a] 9} for ^(C)it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^(D)I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord: ^(E)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(F)I will visit you, ^(G)and I will fulfill to you my promise ^(H)and bring you back to this place. ^11 (I)For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[b] and not for evil, ^(J)to give you a future and a hope. ^12 (K)Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^(L)and I will hear you. ^13 (M)You will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^(N)with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, ^(O)and I will restore your fortunes and ^(P)gather you from all the nations and all the places ^(Q)where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

¹⁵ “Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ ¹⁶ thus says the Lord concerning ^(R)the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: ¹⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them ^(S)sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^(T)vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with ^(U)sword, famine, and pestilence, ^(V)and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ^(W)to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^(X)where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ^(Y)that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ ²⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles ^(Z)whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ²¹ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, ^(AA)who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. ^22 (AB)Because of them ^(AC)this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, ^(AD)whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” ²³ because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, ^(AE)they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and ^(AF)they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. ^(AG)I am the one who knows, ^(AH)and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”

²⁴ And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, ^(A)you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” ²⁵ But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, ^(B)most excellent Festus, but I am speaking ^(C)true and ^(D)rational words. ²⁶ For ^(E)the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” ²⁸ And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be ^(F)a Christian?”^{[a] 29} And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day ^(G)might become such as I am—except for ^(H)these chains.”