20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c](A) has made my life very bitter.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 1:20 Naomi means pleasant.
  2. Ruth 1:20 Mara means bitter.
  3. Ruth 1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace(A) for those who have been trained by it.

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[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)

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
    the bitterness(AE) and the gall.(AF)
20 I well remember them,
    and my soul is downcast(AG) within me.(AH)

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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.

13 I waited patiently(A) till dawn,
    but like a lion he broke(B) all my bones;(C)
    day and night(D) you made an end of me.

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15 From my youth(A) I have suffered(B) and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors(C) and am in despair.(D)

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14 All day long I have been afflicted,(A)
    and every morning brings new punishments.

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then know that God has wronged me(A)
    and drawn his net(B) around me.(C)

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17 “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;(A)
    so do not despise the discipline(B) of the Almighty.[a](C)

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Footnotes

  1. Job 5:17 Hebrew Shaddai; here and throughout Job

22 I did not see a temple(A) in the city, because the Lord God Almighty(B) and the Lamb(C) are its temple.

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“I am the Alpha and the Omega,”(A) says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come,(B) the Almighty.”(C)

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“Can you fathom(A) the mysteries of God?
    Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

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I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a](A) but by my name(B) the Lord[b](C) I did not make myself fully known to them.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 6:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai
  2. Exodus 6:3 See note at 3:15.

14 And may God Almighty[a](A) grant you mercy(B) before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you.(C) As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 43:14 Hebrew El-Shaddai

The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old,(A) the Lord appeared to him(B) and said, “I am God Almighty[a];(C) walk before me faithfully and be blameless.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 17:1 Hebrew El-Shaddai

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