Psalm 79:1-9

English Standard Version

How Long, O Lord?

A Psalm of ^(A)Asaph.

79 O God, ^(B)the nations have come into your ^(C)inheritance;
    they have defiled your ^(D)holy temple;
    they have ^(E)laid Jerusalem in ruins.
²They have given ^(F)the bodies of your servants
    to the birds of the heavens for food,
    the flesh of your ^(G)faithful to ^(H)the beasts of the earth.
³They have poured out their blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and there was ^(I)no one to bury them.
⁴We have become ^(J)a taunt to our neighbors,
    ^(K)mocked and derided by those around us.

⁵^(L)How long, O Lord? Will you be angry ^(M)forever?
    Will your ^(N)jealousy ^(O)burn like fire?
⁶^(P)Pour out your anger on the nations
    that ^(Q)do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
    that ^(R)do not call upon your name!
⁷For they have devoured Jacob
    and laid waste his habitation.

⁸^(S)Do not remember against us ^(T)our former iniquities;^[a]
    let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
    for we are ^(U)brought very low.
⁹^(V)Help us, O God of our salvation,
    for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and ^(W)atone for our sins,
    for your ^(X)name's sake!

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Footnotes

Psalm 79:8 Or the iniquities of former generations

Jeremiah 8:1-13

English Standard Version

8 “At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs. ²And they shall be spread ^(A)before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. ^(B)And they shall not be gathered or buried. ^(C)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ³^(D)Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family ^(E)in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.

Sin and Treachery

⁴“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
^(F)When men fall, do they not rise again?
    If one turns away, does he not return?
⁵Why then has this people ^(G)turned away
    in perpetual ^(H)backsliding?
^(I)They hold fast to deceit;
    they refuse to return.
⁶^(J)I have paid attention and listened,
    but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
    saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
    ^(K)like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
⁷Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and ^(L)the turtledove, ^(M)swallow, and crane^[a]
    keep the time of their coming,
^(N)but my people know not
    the rules^[b] of the Lord.

⁸^(O)“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
    and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
    has made it into a lie.
⁹^(P)The wise men shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed ^(Q)and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    so what wisdom is in them?
¹⁰^(R)Therefore I will give their wives to others
    and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
    everyone ^(S)is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹¹They have healed ^(T)the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
¹²Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, ^(U)they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
^(V)Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
    when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
¹³When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
    there are ^(W)no grapes on the vine,
    ^(X)nor figs on the fig tree;
^(Y)even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.”^[c]

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 8:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Jeremiah 8:7 Or just decrees
Jeremiah 8:13 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Romans 8:31-39

English Standard Version

God's Everlasting Love

³¹What then shall we say to these things? ^(A)If God is for us, who can be^[a] against us? ³²^(B)He who did not spare his own Son but ^(C)gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? ^(D)It is God who justifies. ³⁴^(E)Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—^(F)who is at the right hand of God, ^(G)who indeed is interceding for us.^[b] ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶As it is written,

^(H)“For your sake ^(I)we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than ^(J)conquerors through ^(K)him who loved us. ³⁸For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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