Categories
Jeremiah

Jeremiah 46

Defeat of Pharaoh Foretold

1 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

2 To Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

3 “Line up the shield and buckler,

And draw near for the battle!

4 Harness the horses,

And mount the steeds,

And take your stand with helmets on!

Polish the spears,

Put on the scale-armor!

5 Why have I seen it?

They are terrified,

They are drawing back,

And their mighty men are defeated

And have taken refuge in flight,

Without facing back;

Terror is on every side!”

Declares the Lord.

6 Let not the swift man flee,

Nor the mighty man escape;

In the north beside the river Euphrates

They have stumbled and fallen.

7 Who is this that rises like the Nile,

Like the rivers whose waters surge about?

8 Egypt rises like the Nile,

Even like the rivers whose waters surge about;

And He has said, “I will rise and cover that land;

I will surely destroy the city and its inhabitants.”

9 Go up, you horses, and drive madly, you chariots,

That the mighty men may march forward:

Ethiopia and Put, that handle the shield,

And the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

10 For that day belongs to the Lord God of hosts,

A day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes;

And the sword will devour and be satiated

And drink its fill of their blood;

For there will be a slaughter for the Lord God of hosts,

In the land of the north by the river Euphrates.

11 Go up to Gilead and obtain balm,

O virgin daughter of Egypt!

In vain have you multiplied remedies;

There is no healing for you.

12 The nations have heard of your shame,

And the earth is full of your cry of distress;

For one warrior has stumbled over another,

And both of them have fallen down together.

13 This is the message which the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt:

14 “Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol,

Proclaim also in Memphis and Tahpanhes;

Say, ‘Take your stand and get yourself ready,

For the sword has devoured those around you.’

15 Why have your mighty ones become prostrate?

They do not stand because the Lord has thrust them down.

16 They have repeatedly stumbled;

Indeed, they have fallen one against another.

Then they said, ‘Get up! And let us go back

To our own people and our native land

Away from the sword of the oppressor.’

17 They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a big noise;

He has let the appointed time pass by!’

18 As I live,” declares the King

Whose name is the Lord of hosts,

“Surely one shall come who looms up like Tabor among the mountains,

Or like Carmel by the sea.

19 Make your baggage ready for exile,

O daughter dwelling in Egypt,

For Memphis will become a desolation;

It will even be burned down and bereft of inhabitants.

20 Egypt is a pretty heifer,

But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

21 Also her mercenaries in her midst

Are like fattened calves,

For even they too have turned back and have fled away together;

They did not stand their ground.

For the day of their calamity has come upon them,

The time of their punishment.

22 Its sound moves along like a serpent;

For they move on like an army

And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

23 They have cut down her forest,” declares the Lord;

“Surely it will no more be found,

Even though they are now more numerous than locusts

And are without number.

24 The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame,

Given over to the power of the people of the north.”

25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him.

26 I shall give them over to the power of those who are seeking their lives, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his officers. Afterwards, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares the Lord.

27 “But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear,

Nor be dismayed, O Israel!

For, see, I am going to save you from afar,

And your descendants from the land of their captivity;

And Jacob will return and be undisturbed

And secure, with no one making him tremble.

28 O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the Lord,

“For I am with you.

For I will make a full end of all the nations

Where I have driven you,

Yet I will not make a full end of you;

But I will correct you properly

And by no means leave you unpunished.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JER/46-a616cc294bd3935631c5b2e8b411d570.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Jeremiah

Jeremiah 47

Prophecy against Philistia

1 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.

2 Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, waters are going to rise from the north

And become an overflowing torrent,

And overflow the land and all its fullness,

The city and those who live in it;

And the men will cry out,

And every inhabitant of the land will wail.

3 Because of the noise of the galloping hoofs of his stallions,

The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels,

The fathers have not turned back for their children,

Because of the limpness of their hands,

4 On account of the day that is coming

To destroy all the Philistines,

To cut off from Tyre and Sidon

Every ally that is left;

For the Lord is going to destroy the Philistines,

The remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.

5 Baldness has come upon Gaza;

Ashkelon has been ruined.

O remnant of their valley,

How long will you gash yourself?

6 Ah, sword of the Lord,

How long will you not be quiet?

Withdraw into your sheath;

Be at rest and stay still.

7 How can it be quiet,

When the Lord has given it an order?

Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast—

There He has assigned it.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JER/47-9ad3c2052916824eca766144d1547885.mp3?version_id=100—

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Jeremiah

Jeremiah 48

Prophecy against Moab

1 Concerning Moab. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

“Woe to Nebo, for it has been destroyed;

Kiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;

The lofty stronghold has been put to shame and shattered.

2 There is praise for Moab no longer;

In Heshbon they have devised calamity against her:

‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’

You too, Madmen, will be silenced;

The sword will follow after you.

3 The sound of an outcry from Horonaim,

‘Devastation and great destruction!’

4 Moab is broken,

Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.

5 For by the ascent of Luhith

They will ascend with continual weeping;

For at the descent of Horonaim

They have heard the anguished cry of destruction.

6 Flee, save your lives,

That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

7 For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures,

Even you yourself will be captured;

And Chemosh will go off into exile

Together with his priests and his princes.

8 A destroyer will come to every city,

So that no city will escape;

The valley also will be ruined

And the plateau will be destroyed,

As the Lord has said.

9 Give wings to Moab,

For she will flee away;

And her cities will become a desolation,

Without inhabitants in them.

10 Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently,

And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood.

11 “Moab has been at ease since his youth;

He has also been undisturbed, like wine on its dregs,

And he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

Nor has he gone into exile.

Therefore he retains his flavor,

And his aroma has not changed.

12 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter his jars.

13 And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

14 How can you say, ‘We are mighty warriors,

And men valiant for battle’?

15 Moab has been destroyed and men have gone up to his cities;

His choicest young men have also gone down to the slaughter,”

Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

16 “The disaster of Moab will soon come,

And his calamity has swiftly hastened.

17 Mourn for him, all you who live around him,

Even all of you who know his name;

Say, ‘How has the mighty scepter been broken,

A staff of splendor!’

18 Come down from your glory

And sit on the parched ground,

O daughter dwelling in Dibon,

For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,

He has ruined your strongholds.

19 Stand by the road and keep watch,

O inhabitant of Aroer;

Ask him who flees and her who escapes

And say, ‘What has happened?’

20 Moab has been put to shame, for it has been shattered.

Wail and cry out;

Declare by the Arnon

That Moab has been destroyed.

21 “Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, Jahzah and against Mephaath,

22 against Dibon, Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,

23 against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul and Beth-meon,

24 against Kerioth, Bozrah and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.

25 The horn of Moab has been cut off and his arm broken,” declares the Lord.

26 “Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant toward the Lord; so Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock.

27 Now was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Or was he caught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you shake your head in scorn.

28 Leave the cities and dwell among the crags,

O inhabitants of Moab,

And be like a dove that nests

Beyond the mouth of the chasm.

29 We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—

Of his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance and his self-exaltation.

30 I know his fury,” declares the Lord,

“But it is futile;

His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.

31 Therefore I will wail for Moab,

Even for all Moab will I cry out;

I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

32 More than the weeping for Jazer

I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!

Your tendrils stretched across the sea,

They reached to the sea of Jazer;

Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvest

The destroyer has fallen.

33 So gladness and joy are taken away

From the fruitful field, even from the land of Moab.

And I have made the wine to cease from the wine presses;

No one will tread them with shouting,

The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

34 From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.

35 I will make an end of Moab,” declares the Lord, “the one who offers sacrifice on the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.

36 “Therefore My heart wails for Moab like flutes; My heart also wails like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced.

37 For every head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins.

38 On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable vessel,” declares the Lord.

39 “How shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an object of terror to all around him.”

40 For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, one will fly swiftly like an eagle

And spread out his wings against Moab.

41 Kerioth has been captured

And the strongholds have been seized,

So the hearts of the mighty men of Moab in that day

Will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

42 Moab will be destroyed from being a people

Because he has become arrogant toward the Lord.

43 Terror, pit and snare are coming upon you,

O inhabitant of Moab,” declares the Lord.

44 “The one who flees from the terror

Will fall into the pit,

And the one who climbs up out of the pit

Will be caught in the snare;

For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab,

The year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

45 “In the shadow of Heshbon

The fugitives stand without strength;

For a fire has gone forth from Heshbon

And a flame from the midst of Sihon,

And it has devoured the forehead of Moab

And the scalps of the riotous revelers.

46 Woe to you, Moab!

The people of Chemosh have perished;

For your sons have been taken away captive

And your daughters into captivity.

47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab

In the latter days,” declares the Lord.

Thus far the judgment on Moab.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JER/48-bf8a38c9837860ee00d2c871409812f7.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Jeremiah

Jeremiah 49

Prophecy against Ammon

1 Concerning the sons of Ammon. Thus says the Lord:

“Does Israel have no sons?

Or has he no heirs?

Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad

And his people settled in its cities?

2 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“That I will cause a trumpet blast of war to be heard

Against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon;

And it will become a desolate heap,

And her towns will be set on fire.

Then Israel will take possession of his possessors,”

Says the Lord.

3 “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed!

Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah,

Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament,

And rush back and forth inside the walls;

For Malcam will go into exile

Together with his priests and his princes.

4 How boastful you are about the valleys!

Your valley is flowing away,

O backsliding daughter

Who trusts in her treasures, saying,

‘Who will come against me?’

5 Behold, I am going to bring terror upon you,”

Declares the Lord God of hosts,

“From all directions around you;

And each of you will be driven out headlong,

With no one to gather the fugitives together.

6 But afterward I will restore

The fortunes of the sons of Ammon,”

Declares the Lord.

Prophecy against Edom

7 Concerning Edom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman?

Has good counsel been lost to the prudent?

Has their wisdom decayed?

8 Flee away, turn back, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Dedan,

For I will bring the disaster of Esau upon him

At the time I punish him.

9 If grape gatherers came to you,

Would they not leave gleanings?

If thieves came by night,

They would destroy only until they had enough.

10 But I have stripped Esau bare,

I have uncovered his hiding places

So that he will not be able to conceal himself;

His offspring has been destroyed along with his relatives

And his neighbors, and he is no more.

11 Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive;

And let your widows trust in Me.”

12 For thus says the Lord, “Behold, those who were not sentenced to drink the cup will certainly drink it, and are you the one who will be completely acquitted? You will not be acquitted, but you will certainly drink it.

13 For I have sworn by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin and a curse; and all its cities will become perpetual ruins.”

14 I have heard a message from the Lord,

And an envoy is sent among the nations, saying,

“Gather yourselves together and come against her,

And rise up for battle!”

15 “For behold, I have made you small among the nations,

Despised among men.

16 As for the terror of you,

The arrogance of your heart has deceived you,

O you who live in the clefts of the rock,

Who occupy the height of the hill.

Though you make your nest as high as an eagle’s,

I will bring you down from there,” declares the Lord.

17 “Edom will become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss at all its wounds.

18 Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with its neighbors,” says the Lord, “no one will live there, nor will a son of man reside in it.

19 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will make him run away from it, and whoever is chosen I shall appoint over it. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can stand against Me?”

20 Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture desolate because of them.

21 The earth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The noise of it has been heard at the Red Sea.

22 Behold, He will mount up and swoop like an eagle and spread out His wings against Bozrah; and the hearts of the mighty men of Edom in that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Prophecy against Damascus

23 Concerning Damascus.

“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,

For they have heard bad news;

They are disheartened.

There is anxiety by the sea,

It cannot be calmed.

24 Damascus has become helpless;

She has turned away to flee,

And panic has gripped her;

Distress and pangs have taken hold of her

Like a woman in childbirth.

25 How the city of praise has not been deserted,

The town of My joy!

26 Therefore, her young men will fall in her streets,

And all the men of war will be silenced in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts.

27 “I will set fire to the wall of Damascus,

And it will devour the fortified towers of Ben-hadad.”

Prophecy against Kedar and Hazor

28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the Lord,

“Arise, go up to Kedar

And devastate the men of the east.

29 They will take away their tents and their flocks;

They will carry off for themselves

Their tent curtains, all their goods and their camels,

And they will call out to one another, ‘Terror on every side!’

30 Run away, flee! Dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares the Lord;

“For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has formed a plan against you

And devised a scheme against you.

31 Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease,

Which lives securely,” declares the Lord.

“It has no gates or bars;

They dwell alone.

32 Their camels will become plunder,

And their many cattle for booty,

And I will scatter to all the winds those who cut the corners of their hair;

And I will bring their disaster from every side,” declares the Lord.

33 “Hazor will become a haunt of jackals,

A desolation forever;

No one will live there,

Nor will a son of man reside in it.”

Prophecy against Elam

34 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

35 “Thus says the Lord of hosts,

‘Behold, I am going to break the bow of Elam,

The finest of their might.

36 I will bring upon Elam the four winds

From the four ends of heaven,

And will scatter them to all these winds;

And there will be no nation

To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.

37 So I will shatter Elam before their enemies

And before those who seek their lives;

And I will bring calamity upon them,

Even My fierce anger,’ declares the Lord,

‘And I will send out the sword after them

Until I have consumed them.

38 Then I will set My throne in Elam

And destroy out of it king and princes,’

Declares the Lord.

39 ‘But it will come about in the last days

That I will restore the fortunes of Elam,’ ”

Declares the Lord.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JER/49-50f6cc36f062268589800a0755df6673.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Jeremiah

Jeremiah 50

Prophecy against Babylon

1 The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

2 “Declare and proclaim among the nations.

Proclaim it and lift up a standard.

Do not conceal it but say,

‘Babylon has been captured,

Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered;

Her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.’

3 For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!

4 “In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God they will seek.

5 They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

6 “My people have become lost sheep;

Their shepherds have led them astray.

They have made them turn aside on the mountains;

They have gone along from mountain to hill

And have forgotten their resting place.

7 All who came upon them have devoured them;

And their adversaries have said, ‘We are not guilty,

Inasmuch as they have sinned against the Lord who is the habitation of righteousness,

Even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

8 “Wander away from the midst of Babylon

And go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;

Be also like male goats at the head of the flock.

9 For behold, I am going to arouse and bring up against Babylon

A horde of great nations from the land of the north,

And they will draw up their battle lines against her;

From there she will be taken captive.

Their arrows will be like an expert warrior

Who does not return empty-handed.

10 Chaldea will become plunder;

All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord.

11 “Because you are glad, because you are jubilant,

O you who pillage My heritage,

Because you skip about like a threshing heifer

And neigh like stallions,

12 Your mother will be greatly ashamed,

She who gave you birth will be humiliated.

Behold, she will be the least of the nations,

A wilderness, a parched land and a desert.

13 Because of the indignation of the Lord she will not be inhabited,

But she will be completely desolate;

Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified

And will hiss because of all her wounds.

14 Draw up your battle lines against Babylon on every side,

All you who bend the bow;

Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows,

For she has sinned against the Lord.

15 Raise your battle cry against her on every side!

She has given herself up, her pillars have fallen,

Her walls have been torn down.

For this is the vengeance of the Lord:

Take vengeance on her;

As she has done to others, so do to her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon

And the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;

From before the sword of the oppressor

They will each turn back to his own people

And they will each flee to his own land.

17 “Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria.

19 And I will bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his desire will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days and at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.’

21 “Against the land of Merathaim, go up against it,

And against the inhabitants of Pekod.

Slay and utterly destroy them,” declares the Lord,

“And do according to all that I have commanded you.

22 The noise of battle is in the land,

And great destruction.

23 How the hammer of the whole earth

Has been cut off and broken!

How Babylon has become

An object of horror among the nations!

24 I set a snare for you and you were also caught, O Babylon,

While you yourself were not aware;

You have been found and also seized

Because you have engaged in conflict with the Lord.”

25 The Lord has opened His armory

And has brought forth the weapons of His indignation,

For it is a work of the Lord God of hosts

In the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come to her from the farthest border;

Open up her barns,

Pile her up like heaps

And utterly destroy her,

Let nothing be left to her.

27 Put all her young bulls to the sword;

Let them go down to the slaughter!

Woe be upon them, for their day has come,

The time of their punishment.

28 There is a sound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon,

To declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,

Vengeance for His temple.

29 “Summon many against Babylon,

All those who bend the bow:

Encamp against her on every side,

Let there be no escape.

Repay her according to her work;

According to all that she has done, so do to her;

For she has become arrogant against the Lord,

Against the Holy One of Israel.

30 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets,

And all her men of war will be silenced in that day,” declares the Lord.

31 “Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,”

Declares the Lord God of hosts,

“For your day has come,

The time when I will punish you.

32 The arrogant one will stumble and fall

With no one to raise him up;

And I will set fire to his cities

And it will devour all his environs.”

33 Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“The sons of Israel are oppressed,

And the sons of Judah as well;

And all who took them captive have held them fast,

They have refused to let them go.

34 Their Redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is His name;

He will vigorously plead their case

So that He may bring rest to the earth,

But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.

35 A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,

“And against the inhabitants of Babylon

And against her officials and her wise men!

36 A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become fools!

A sword against her mighty men, and they will be shattered!

37 A sword against their horses and against their chariots

And against all the foreigners who are in the midst of her,

And they will become women!

A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

38 A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!

For it is a land of idols,

And they are mad over fearsome idols.

39 “Therefore the desert creatures will live there along with the jackals;

The ostriches also will live in it,

And it will never again be inhabited

Or dwelt in from generation to generation.

40 As when God overthrew Sodom

And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,

“No man will live there,

Nor will any son of man reside in it.

41 “Behold, a people is coming from the north,

And a great nation and many kings

Will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

42 They seize their bow and javelin;

They are cruel and have no mercy.

Their voice roars like the sea;

And they ride on horses,

Marshalled like a man for the battle

Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,

And his hands hang limp;

Distress has gripped him,

Agony like a woman in childbirth.

44 “Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen I will appoint over it. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can stand before Me?”

45 Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture desolate because of them.

46 At the shout, “Babylon has been seized!” the earth is shaken, and an outcry is heard among the nations.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JER/50-3834703c42c575ee8ce94d9efbeff33f.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Jeremiah

Jeremiah 51

Babylon Judged for Sins against Israel

1 Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I am going to arouse against Babylon

And against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai

The spirit of a destroyer.

2 I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her

And may devastate her land;

For on every side they will be opposed to her

In the day of her calamity.

3 Let not him who bends his bow bend it,

Nor let him rise up in his scale-armor;

So do not spare her young men;

Devote all her army to destruction.

4 They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,

And pierced through in their streets.”

5 For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken

By his God, the Lord of hosts,

Although their land is full of guilt

Before the Holy One of Israel.

6 Flee from the midst of Babylon,

And each of you save his life!

Do not be destroyed in her punishment,

For this is the Lord’s time of vengeance;

He is going to render recompense to her.

7 Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord,

Intoxicating all the earth.

The nations have drunk of her wine;

Therefore the nations are going mad.

8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;

Wail over her!

Bring balm for her pain;

Perhaps she may be healed.

9 We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed;

Forsake her and let us each go to his own country,

For her judgment has reached to heaven

And towers up to the very skies.

10 The Lord has brought about our vindication;

Come and let us recount in Zion

The work of the Lord our God!

11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!

The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes,

Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it;

For it is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for His temple.

12 Lift up a signal against the walls of Babylon;

Post a strong guard,

Station sentries,

Place men in ambush!

For the Lord has both purposed and performed

What He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

13 O you who dwell by many waters,

Abundant in treasures,

Your end has come,

The measure of your end.

14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself:

“Surely I will fill you with a population like locusts,

And they will cry out with shouts of victory over you.”

15 It is He who made the earth by His power,

Who established the world by His wisdom,

And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.

16 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth;

He makes lightning for the rain

And brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

17 All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge;

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,

For his molten images are deceitful,

And there is no breath in them.

18 They are worthless, a work of mockery;

In the time of their punishment they will perish.

19 The portion of Jacob is not like these;

For the Maker of all is He,

And of the tribe of His inheritance;

The Lord of hosts is His name.

20 He says, “You are My war-club, My weapon of war;

And with you I shatter nations,

And with you I destroy kingdoms.

21 With you I shatter the horse and his rider,

And with you I shatter the chariot and its rider,

22 And with you I shatter man and woman,

And with you I shatter old man and youth,

And with you I shatter young man and virgin,

23 And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock,

And with you I shatter the farmer and his team,

And with you I shatter governors and prefects.

24 “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the Lord.

25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the Lord,

“And I will stretch out My hand against you,

And roll you down from the crags,

And I will make you a burnt out mountain.

26 They will not take from you even a stone for a corner

Nor a stone for foundations,

But you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord.

27 Lift up a signal in the land,

Blow a trumpet among the nations!

Consecrate the nations against her,

Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz;

Appoint a marshal against her,

Bring up the horses like bristly locusts.

28 Consecrate the nations against her,

The kings of the Medes,

Their governors and all their prefects,

And every land of their dominion.

29 So the land quakes and writhes,

For the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand,

To make the land of Babylon

A desolation without inhabitants.

30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,

They stay in the strongholds;

Their strength is exhausted,

They are becoming like women;

Their dwelling places are set on fire,

The bars of her gates are broken.

31 One courier runs to meet another,

And one messenger to meet another,

To tell the king of Babylon

That his city has been captured from end to end;

32 The fords also have been seized,

And they have burned the marshes with fire,

And the men of war are terrified.

33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

At the time it is stamped firm;

Yet in a little while the time of harvest will come for her.”

34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me,

He has set me down like an empty vessel;

He has swallowed me like a monster,

He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;

He has washed me away.

35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”

The inhabitant of Zion will say;

And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”

Jerusalem will say.

36 Therefore thus says the Lord,

“Behold, I am going to plead your case

And exact full vengeance for you;

And I will dry up her sea

And make her fountain dry.

37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,

An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.

38 They will roar together like young lions,

They will growl like lions’ cubs.

39 When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet

And make them drunk, that they may become jubilant

And may sleep a perpetual sleep

And not wake up,” declares the Lord.

40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

Like rams together with male goats.

41 “How Sheshak has been captured,

And the praise of the whole earth been seized!

How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!

42 The sea has come up over Babylon;

She has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves.

43 Her cities have become an object of horror,

A parched land and a desert,

A land in which no man lives

And through which no son of man passes.

44 I will punish Bel in Babylon,

And I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth;

And the nations will no longer stream to him.

Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down!

45 “Come forth from her midst, My people,

And each of you save yourselves

From the fierce anger of the Lord.

46 Now so that your heart does not grow faint,

And you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the land—

For the report will come one year,

And after that another report in another year,

And violence will be in the land

With ruler against ruler—

47 Therefore behold, days are coming

When I will punish the idols of Babylon;

And her whole land will be put to shame

And all her slain will fall in her midst.

48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them

Will shout for joy over Babylon,

For the destroyers will come to her from the north,”

Declares the Lord.

49 Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel,

As also for Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen.

50 You who have escaped the sword,

Depart! Do not stay!

Remember the Lord from afar,

And let Jerusalem come to your mind.

51 We are ashamed because we have heard reproach;

Disgrace has covered our faces,

For aliens have entered

The holy places of the Lord’s house.

52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will punish her idols,

And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.

53 Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens,

And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold,

From Me destroyers will come to her,” declares the Lord.

54 The sound of an outcry from Babylon,

And of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

55 For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon,

And He will make her loud noise vanish from her.

And their waves will roar like many waters;

The tumult of their voices sounds forth.

56 For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,

And her mighty men will be captured,

Their bows are shattered;

For the Lord is a God of recompense,

He will fully repay.

57 “I will make her princes and her wise men drunk,

Her governors, her prefects and her mighty men,

That they may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,”

Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

58 Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“The broad wall of Babylon will be completely razed

And her high gates will be set on fire;

So the peoples will toil for nothing,

And the nations become exhausted only for fire.”

59 The message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (Now Seraiah was quartermaster.)

60 So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the calamity which would come upon Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon.

61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words aloud,

62 and say, ‘You, O Lord, have promised concerning this place to cut it off, so that there will be nothing dwelling in it, whether man or beast, but it will be a perpetual desolation.’

63 And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you will tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,

64 and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again because of the calamity that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become exhausted.’ ” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JER/51-6b7372262ee8bc6da85d1d264a73dc4d.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Jeremiah

Jeremiah 52

The Fall of Jerusalem

1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord like all that Jehoiakim had done.

3 For through the anger of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a siege wall all around it.

5 So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

6 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

7 Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.

8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.

9 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

10 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

11 Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

12 Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

13 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire.

14 So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.

15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the artisans.

16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

17 Now the bronze pillars which belonged to the house of the Lord and the stands and the bronze sea, which were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

18 They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the pans and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service.

19 The captain of the guard also took away the bowls, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the pans and the drink offering bowls, what was fine gold and what was fine silver.

20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.

21 As for the pillars, the height of each pillar was eighteen cubits, and it was twelve cubits in circumference and four fingers in thickness, and hollow.

22 Now a capital of bronze was on it; and the height of each capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these, including pomegranates.

23 There were ninety-six exposed pomegranates; all the pomegranates numbered a hundred on the network all around.

24 Then the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest, with the three officers of the temple.

25 He also took from the city one official who was overseer of the men of war, and seven of the king’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

27 Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led away into exile from its land.

28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away into exile: in the seventh year 3,023 Jews;

29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons from Jerusalem;

30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all.

31 Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.

32 Then he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

33 So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and had his meals in the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life.

34 For his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/JER/52-2250e12410bdc2aa9140ad80428987b2.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Lamentations

Lamentations 1

The Sorrows of Zion

1 How lonely sits the city

That was full of people!

She has become like a widow

Who was once great among the nations!

She who was a princess among the provinces

Has become a forced laborer!

2 She weeps bitterly in the night

And her tears are on her cheeks;

She has none to comfort her

Among all her lovers.

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

3 Judah has gone into exile under affliction

And under harsh servitude;

She dwells among the nations,

But she has found no rest;

All her pursuers have overtaken her

In the midst of distress.

4 The roads of Zion are in mourning

Because no one comes to the appointed feasts.

All her gates are desolate;

Her priests are groaning,

Her virgins are afflicted,

And she herself is bitter.

5 Her adversaries have become her masters,

Her enemies prosper;

For the Lord has caused her grief

Because of the multitude of her transgressions;

Her little ones have gone away

As captives before the adversary.

6 All her majesty

Has departed from the daughter of Zion;

Her princes have become like deer

That have found no pasture;

And they have fled without strength

Before the pursuer.

7 In the days of her affliction and homelessness

Jerusalem remembers all her precious things

That were from the days of old,

When her people fell into the hand of the adversary

And no one helped her.

The adversaries saw her,

They mocked at her ruin.

8 Jerusalem sinned greatly,

Therefore she has become an unclean thing.

All who honored her despise her

Because they have seen her nakedness;

Even she herself groans and turns away.

9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts;

She did not consider her future.

Therefore she has fallen astonishingly;

She has no comforter.

“See, O Lord, my affliction,

For the enemy has magnified himself!”

10 The adversary has stretched out his hand

Over all her precious things,

For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,

The ones whom You commanded

That they should not enter into Your congregation.

11 All her people groan seeking bread;

They have given their precious things for food

To restore their lives themselves.

“See, O Lord, and look,

For I am despised.”

12 “Is it nothing to all you who pass this way?

Look and see if there is any pain like my pain

Which was severely dealt out to me,

Which the Lord inflicted on the day of His fierce anger.

13 From on high He sent fire into my bones,

And it prevailed over them.

He has spread a net for my feet;

He has turned me back;

He has made me desolate,

Faint all day long.

14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound;

By His hand they are knit together.

They have come upon my neck;

He has made my strength fail.

The Lord has given me into the hands

Of those against whom I am not able to stand.

15 The Lord has rejected all my strong men

In my midst;

He has called an appointed time against me

To crush my young men;

The Lord has trodden as in a wine press

The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 For these things I weep;

My eyes run down with water;

Because far from me is a comforter,

One who restores my soul.

My children are desolate

Because the enemy has prevailed.”

17 Zion stretches out her hands;

There is no one to comfort her;

The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob

That the ones round about him should be his adversaries;

Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 “The Lord is righteous;

For I have rebelled against His command;

Hear now, all peoples,

And behold my pain;

My virgins and my young men

Have gone into captivity.

19 I called to my lovers, but they deceived me;

My priests and my elders perished in the city

While they sought food to restore their strength themselves.

20 See, O Lord, for I am in distress;

My spirit is greatly troubled;

My heart is overturned within me,

For I have been very rebellious.

In the street the sword slays;

In the house it is like death.

21 They have heard that I groan;

There is no one to comfort me;

All my enemies have heard of my calamity;

They are glad that You have done it.

Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed,

That they may become like me.

22 Let all their wickedness come before You;

And deal with them as You have dealt with me

For all my transgressions;

For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/LAM/1-b27c2591d5b211dfe2498ae283d011d2.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Lamentations

Lamentations 2

God’s Anger over Israel

1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion

With a cloud in His anger!

He has cast from heaven to earth

The glory of Israel,

And has not remembered His footstool

In the day of His anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up; He has not spared

All the habitations of Jacob.

In His wrath He has thrown down

The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;

He has brought them down to the ground;

He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

3 In fierce anger He has cut off

All the strength of Israel;

He has drawn back His right hand

From before the enemy.

And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire

Consuming round about.

4 He has bent His bow like an enemy;

He has set His right hand like an adversary

And slain all that were pleasant to the eye;

In the tent of the daughter of Zion

He has poured out His wrath like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy.

He has swallowed up Israel;

He has swallowed up all its palaces,

He has destroyed its strongholds

And multiplied in the daughter of Judah

Mourning and moaning.

6 And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden booth;

He has destroyed His appointed meeting place.

The Lord has caused to be forgotten

The appointed feast and sabbath in Zion,

And He has despised king and priest

In the indignation of His anger.

7 The Lord has rejected His altar,

He has abandoned His sanctuary;

He has delivered into the hand of the enemy

The walls of her palaces.

They have made a noise in the house of the Lord

As in the day of an appointed feast.

8 The Lord determined to destroy

The wall of the daughter of Zion.

He has stretched out a line,

He has not restrained His hand from destroying,

And He has caused rampart and wall to lament;

They have languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground,

He has destroyed and broken her bars.

Her king and her princes are among the nations;

The law is no more.

Also, her prophets find

No vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion

Sit on the ground, they are silent.

They have thrown dust on their heads;

They have girded themselves with sackcloth.

The virgins of Jerusalem

Have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes fail because of tears,

My spirit is greatly troubled;

My heart is poured out on the earth

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

When little ones and infants faint

In the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers,

“Where is grain and wine?”

As they faint like a wounded man

In the streets of the city,

As their life is poured out

On their mothers’ bosom.

13 How shall I admonish you?

To what shall I compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

To what shall I liken you as I comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

For your ruin is as vast as the sea;

Who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen for you

False and foolish visions;

And they have not exposed your iniquity

So as to restore you from captivity,

But they have seen for you false and misleading oracles.

15 All who pass along the way

Clap their hands in derision at you;

They hiss and shake their heads

At the daughter of Jerusalem,

“Is this the city of which they said,

‘The perfection of beauty,

A joy to all the earth’?”

16 All your enemies

Have opened their mouths wide against you;

They hiss and gnash their teeth.

They say, “We have swallowed her up!

Surely this is the day for which we waited;

We have reached it, we have seen it.”

17 The Lord has done what He purposed;

He has accomplished His word

Which He commanded from days of old.

He has thrown down without sparing,

And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you;

He has exalted the might of your adversaries.

18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,

“O wall of the daughter of Zion,

Let your tears run down like a river day and night;

Give yourself no relief,

Let your eyes have no rest.

19 Arise, cry aloud in the night

At the beginning of the night watches;

Pour out your heart like water

Before the presence of the Lord;

Lift up your hands to Him

For the life of your little ones

Who are faint because of hunger

At the head of every street.”

20 See, O Lord, and look!

With whom have You dealt thus?

Should women eat their offspring,

The little ones who were born healthy?

Should priest and prophet be slain

In the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 On the ground in the streets

Lie young and old;

My virgins and my young men

Have fallen by the sword.

You have slain them in the day of Your anger,

You have slaughtered, not sparing.

22 You called as in the day of an appointed feast

My terrors on every side;

And there was no one who escaped or survived

In the day of the Lord’s anger.

Those whom I bore and reared,

My enemy annihilated them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/LAM/2-b11dcab10ec0a9d5e45156512999950c.mp3?version_id=100—

Categories
Lamentations

Lamentations 3

Jeremiah Shares Israel’s Affliction

1 I am the man who has seen affliction

Because of the rod of His wrath.

2 He has driven me and made me walk

In darkness and not in light.

3 Surely against me He has turned His hand

Repeatedly all the day.

4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,

He has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.

6 In dark places He has made me dwell,

Like those who have long been dead.

7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;

He has made my chain heavy.

8 Even when I cry out and call for help,

He shuts out my prayer.

9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;

He has made my paths crooked.

10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,

Like a lion in secret places.

11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;

He has made me desolate.

12 He bent His bow

And set me as a target for the arrow.

13 He made the arrows of His quiver

To enter into my inward parts.

14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people,

Their mocking song all the day.

15 He has filled me with bitterness,

He has made me drunk with wormwood.

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;

He has made me cower in the dust.

17 My soul has been rejected from peace;

I have forgotten happiness.

18 So I say, “My strength has perished,

And so has my hope from the Lord.”

Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy

19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.

20 Surely my soul remembers

And is bowed down within me.

21 This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I have hope in Him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the person who seeks Him.

26 It is good that he waits silently

For the salvation of the Lord.

27 It is good for a man that he should bear

The yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit alone and be silent

Since He has laid it on him.

29 Let him put his mouth in the dust,

Perhaps there is hope.

30 Let him give his cheek to the smiter,

Let him be filled with reproach.

31 For the Lord will not reject forever,

32 For if He causes grief,

Then He will have compassion

According to His abundant lovingkindness.

33 For He does not afflict willingly

Or grieve the sons of men.

34 To crush under His feet

All the prisoners of the land,

35 To deprive a man of justice

In the presence of the Most High,

36 To defraud a man in his lawsuit—

Of these things the Lord does not approve.

37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,

Unless the Lord has commanded it?

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

That both good and ill go forth?

39 Why should any living mortal, or any man,

Offer complaint in view of his sins?

40 Let us examine and probe our ways,

And let us return to the Lord.

41 We lift up our heart and hands

Toward God in heaven;

42 We have transgressed and rebelled,

You have not pardoned.

43 You have covered Yourself with anger

And pursued us;

You have slain and have not spared.

44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud

So that no prayer can pass through.

45 You have made us mere offscouring and refuse

In the midst of the peoples.

46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

47 Panic and pitfall have befallen us,

Devastation and destruction;

48 My eyes run down with streams of water

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 My eyes pour down unceasingly,

Without stopping,

50 Until the Lord looks down

And sees from heaven.

51 My eyes bring pain to my soul

Because of all the daughters of my city.

52 My enemies without cause

Hunted me down like a bird;

53 They have silenced me in the pit

And have placed a stone on me.

54 Waters flowed over my head;

I said, “I am cut off!”

55 I called on Your name, O Lord,

Out of the lowest pit.

56 You have heard my voice,

“Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,

From my cry for help.”

57 You drew near when I called on You;

You said, “Do not fear!”

58 O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause;

You have redeemed my life.

59 O Lord, You have seen my oppression;

Judge my case.

60 You have seen all their vengeance,

All their schemes against me.

61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,

All their schemes against me.

62 The lips of my assailants and their whispering

Are against me all day long.

63 Look on their sitting and their rising;

I am their mocking song.

64 You will recompense them, O Lord,

According to the work of their hands.

65 You will give them hardness of heart,

Your curse will be on them.

66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them

From under the heavens of the Lord!

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/80/32k/LAM/3-5d5d278bc0f354c8fbb4dded24689b66.mp3?version_id=100—