Old/New Testament
A Ray of Hope in the Midst of Anguish[a]
3 I am the man who has experienced affliction under the rod of his fury.
2 He drove me off and brought me into darkness instead of light.
3 See how he turns against me. He turns his hand against me all day long.
4 He wore out my flesh and my skin. He shattered my bones.
5 He built siege works against me. He surrounded me with bitterness
and hardship.
6 He made me dwell in dark places, like people who died long ago.
7 He walled me in, so I cannot leave. He made my chains heavy.
8 Even when I call and cry out, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my way with a stone wall. He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is about to ambush me like a bear, like a lion lying in wait.
11 He diverted me off my path and tore me to pieces. He made
me desolate.
12 He bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He shot the arrows from his quiver into my heart.[b]
14 I was a laughingstock to all my people, the target of their song
all day long.
15 He has made me eat bitter food and drink my fill of wormwood.
16 He broke my teeth with gravel. He pushed me down into[c] the ashes.
17 You deprived my soul of peace. I have forgotten what well-being[d] is.
18 I said, “My endurance has vanished, along with my hope from
the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and my homeless wandering,
the wormwood and bitterness.
20 My soul always remembers, and it has sunk within me.
21 Nevertheless, I keep this in my heart. This is the reason I have hope:
22 By the mercies of the Lord we are not consumed, for his compassions do not fail.
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 My soul says, “The Lord is my portion. Therefore, I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good to hope quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bears a yoke early in his life.
28 Let him sit alone and be silent, because the Lord has laid this upon him.
29 Let him stick his face in the dust. Perhaps there still is hope.
30 Let him turn his cheek toward the one who strikes him. Let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For the Lord will not push us away forever.
32 Even though he brings grief, he will show compassion on the basis of his great mercy.
33 Certainly it is not what his heart desires when he causes affliction,
when he brings grief to the children of men.
34 To crush all the land’s prisoners under his feet,
35 to deny a man’s right before the face of the Most High,
36 to undermine a man in his legal dispute—
the Lord does not look with favor on these things.[e]
37 Who can speak something and have it happen, unless the Lord commands it?
38 Don’t the bad things and the good both come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 How can any living man complain?
How can someone complain about the consequences of his sins?
40 Let us explore and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
42 We were disobedient and rebelled, so you did not forgive.
43 You covered yourself with anger and pursued us. You killed and did not spare.
44 You covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer passes through.
45 You make us like scraps and garbage among the peoples.
46 All our enemies opened their mouth against us.
47 Panic and the pit were ours, devastation and destruction.
48 Streams of water run down from my eyes,
because of the breaking of the daughter of my people.
49 My eye pours without stopping. It will not cease,
50 until the Lord looks down so that he sees from heaven.
51 What I see makes my soul ache for all the daughters of my city.
52 For no reason, my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 They ended my life in the pit and threw stones at me.
54 Water flowed above my head, and I said, “I am cut off!”
55 I called on your name, Lord, from the deepest pit.
56 You heard my voice: “Do not hide your ear from my cry for relief!”
57 The day I called to you, you came near and said, “Do not fear.”
58 Lord, you pleaded my soul’s case. You redeemed my life.
59 Lord, you saw how I was wronged. Judge my case.
60 You saw all their vengeance, all their plans against me.
61 You heard their scorn, Lord, all their plans against me.
62 You heard the lips of those who rise up against me
and their plots against me all day long.
63 Watch them when they sit down and when they get up.
I am the target of their mocking song.
64 You will pay them back, Lord, according to what their hands have done.
65 You will give them a stubborn[f] heart. Your curse is on them.
66 You will pursue them in anger
and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.
Gloom Settles on the City[g]
4 How dull the gold has become! How the fine gold has lost its shimmer!
Sacred stones are poured out at the corner of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion, who were worth their weight in gold,
now are treated like clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer a breast and nurse their young,
but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
4 The baby’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth because of thirst.
Children ask for bread, but no one shares with them.
5 Those who ate delicacies have become desolate in the streets.
Those who were dressed in scarlet have embraced piles of trash.
6 The guilt of the daughter of my people was greater than the sin of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment, though no hands turned against her.
7 Her consecrated ones[h] were brighter than snow. They were whiter than milk.
Their bones were redder than rubies; their facets shined like sapphires.
8 Now their faces have become the darkest black. They cannot be recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It is as dry as a stick of wood.
9 Those cut down by the sword are better off than those cut down by hunger,
those who waste away, pierced with pain, with no crops to eat from the field.
10 The hands of compassionate women boiled their children.
Their children became their food when the daughter of my people was broken.
11 The Lord carried out his wrath. He poured out his burning anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion, and it consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth and the world’s inhabitants never believed
that foe and enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 The reason this happened was the sin of her prophets and the guilt of her priests,
who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.
14 Those blind men staggered in the streets. They were defiled with blood,
so people could not touch their garments.
15 “Go away! Unclean!” people shouted to them. “Go away! Go away! Do not touch us!”
When they fled, when they staggered, people among the nations said,
“They may not stay here anymore.”
16 The face of the Lord scattered them. He has no regard for them anymore.
Priests were shown no consideration. Elders were shown no favor.
17 Our eyes are still worn out, looking in vain for our help.
In our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
18 They hunted our steps, preventing us from going into the public squares of our city.
Our end has drawn near. Our days are finished, for our end has come.
19 Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky.
On the mountains they were in hot pursuit of us. In the wilderness they waited to ambush us.
20 The life breath for our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,[i] was caught in their pits.
We had said of him, “In his shadow we will live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz.
A cup will also come to you. You will become drunk and naked.
22 The punishment for your guilt is finished, daughter of Zion. He will not send you into exile again.
Daughter of Edom, he punishes your guilt. He reveals your sins.
Remember, Lord[j]
5 Remember, Lord, what happened to us. Look and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans without a father. Our mothers are widows.
4 We pay money to drink our own water. We must buy firewood for a price.
5 Our pursuers are at our throat. We are exhausted. We are given no rest.
6 We have made a deal with Egypt and Assyria to have enough bread.
7 Our fathers sinned. They are no more, and we have borne their guilt.
8 Slaves rule over us. No one rescues us from their hand.
9 We get bread at the risk of our life because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven because of fever from hunger.
11 Women in Zion have been violated, virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Officials have been hung up by their hands. The dignity of elders has not been respected.
13 The best young men must grind grain, and boys stumble under loads of wood.[k]
14 Elders are no longer seated in the city gate. The best young men no longer play music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased. Our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen off our head. Woe to us, because we have sinned!
17 Our heart is sick over this. Over these things our eyes have grown dim—
18 over Mount Zion, which is devastated, so that jackals prowl on it.
19 You, Lord, remain forever. Your throne remains for generation after generation.
20 Why do you forget us completely? Why do you abandon us for so long?
21 Lord, turn us back to you, and we will return. Renew our days like long ago,
22 unless you have completely rejected us and you will be angry at us without limit.[l]
Confidence Through Christ
19 Brothers,[a] we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus. 20 It is a new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh. 21 We also have a great priest over the house of God. 22 So let us approach with a sincere heart, in the full confidence of faith, because our hearts have been sprinkled to take away a bad conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold on firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.
Do Not Keep On Sinning
24 Let us also consider carefully how to spur each other on to love and good works. 25 Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day[b] approaching.
26 For if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins. 27 Instead, there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a raging fire that is going to consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without pity, on the basis of the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much greater punishment do you think will be deserved by the person who trampled the Son of God underfoot, who considered insignificant the blood of the covenant, by which he was sanctified, and who insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who said:
Vengeance is mine. I will repay.[c]
And again:
The Lord will judge his people.[d]
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Endure Suffering Patiently
32 Remember the former days when, after you were enlightened, you patiently endured a great struggle of sufferings. 33 Sometimes you were publicly shamed by insults and persecutions. At other times you became companions of those who were treated this way. 34 Indeed, you also sympathized with those in prison,[e] and when your possessions were seized, you accepted it with joy, because you knew that you yourselves had a better and lasting possession. 35 So do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 Certainly you need patient endurance so that, after you do God’s will, you may receive what was promised. 37 For in just a little while:
The one who is coming will come and will not delay.
38 And my[f] righteous one will live by faith,
but if he shrinks back,
my soul takes no pleasure in him.[g]
39 Now we are not part of those who shrink back, resulting in destruction, but of those who have faith, resulting in the soul’s salvation.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.