Day 240: Lamentations 3 - 5

Bible in a year reading for day 240.

Lamentations 3

22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “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 wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
33 For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
35 to deny a man justice before the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
38 Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
40 Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43 You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
46 All our enemies open their mouths against us.
47 Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction.
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
51 My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
54 The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.
55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.
59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60 You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
61 O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me—
62 the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long.
63 When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
64 You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them!
66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.

Lamentations 4

1 How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.
2 How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
4 The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
5 Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.
6 The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand turned to help her.
7 Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires.
8 But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
10 The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.
14 They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
15 “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”
16 The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor.
17 All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
18 They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!
19 Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
20 The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”
21 So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.
22 O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.

Lamentations 5

1 Remember, O LORD, what has 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 fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
5 We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
11 Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
13 Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.

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