Bible
- 1
- I AM [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath.
- 2
- He has led me and brought me into darkness and not light.
- 3
- Surely He has turned away from me; His hand is against me all the day.
- 4
- My flesh and my skin has He worn out and made old; He has shattered my bones.
- 5
- He has built up [siege mounds] against me and surrounded me with bitterness, tribulation, and anguish.
- 6
- He has caused me to dwell in dark places like those long dead.
- 7
- He walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain.
- 8
- Even when I cry and shout for help, He shuts out my prayer.
- 9
- He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
- 10
- He is to me like a bear lying in wait, and like a lion [hiding] in secret places.
- 11
- He has turned me off my ways and pulled me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
- 12
- He has bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.
- 13
- He has caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my heart [the seat of my affections and desires].
- 14
- I have become a derision to all my people, and [the subject of] their singsong all the day.
- 15
- He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink to excess and until drunken with wormwood [bitterness].
- 16
- He has also broken my teeth with gravel (stones); He has covered me with ashes.
- 17
- And You have bereaved my soul and cast it off far from peace; I have forgotten what good and happiness are.
- 18
- And I say, Perished is my strength and my expectation from the Lord.
- 19
- [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall.
- 20
- My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me.
- 21
- But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:
- 22
- It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. [Mal. 3:6.]
- 23
- They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. [Isa. 33:2.]
- 24
- The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him. [Num. 18:20.]
- 25
- The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God's word].
- 26
- It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.
- 27
- It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth.
- 28
- Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit]. [Rom. 8:28.]
- 29
- Let him put his mouth in the dust [in abject recognition of his unworthiness]--there may yet be hope. [Mic. 7:17.]
- 30
- Let him give his cheek to the One Who smites him [even through His human agents]; let him be filled [full] with [men's] reproach [in meekness].
- 31
- For the Lord will not cast off forever! [Ps. 94:14.]
- 32
- But though He causes grief, yet will He be moved to compassion according to the multitude of His loving-kindness and tender mercy.
- 33
- For He does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men. [Ezek. 18:23, 32; Hos. 11:8; Heb. 12:5-10; II Pet. 3:9.]
- 34
- To trample and crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
- 35
- To turn aside and deprive a man of his rights before the face of the Most High or a superior [acting as God's representative],
- 36
- To subvert a man in his cause--[of these things] the Lord does not approve.
- 37
- Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it?
- 38
- Is it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed [adversity and prosperity, physical evil or misfortune and physical good or happiness]?
- 39
- Why does a living man sigh [one who is still in this life's school of discipline]? [And why does] a man complain for the punishment of his sins?
- 40
- Let us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord!
- 41
- Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [and then with them mount up in prayer] to God in heaven:
- 42
- We have transgressed and rebelled and You have not pardoned.
- 43
- You have covered Yourself with wrath and pursued and afflicted us; You have slain without pity.
- 44
- You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
- 45
- You have made us offscouring and refuse among the nations.
- 46
- All our enemies have gaped at us and railed against us.
- 47
- Fear and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
- 48
- My eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- 49
- My eyes overflow continually and will not cease
- 50
- Until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.
- 51
- My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens [and the daughter-towns] of my city [Jerusalem].
- 52
- I have been hunted down like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause.
- 53
- They [thought they had] destroyed my life in the dungeon (pit) and cast a stone [over it] above me. [Jer. 38.]
- 54
- The waters ran down on my head; I said, I am gone.
- 55
- I called upon Your name, O Lord, out of the depths [of the mire] of the dungeon. [Jer. 38:6.]
- 56
- You heard my voice [then]: [Oh] hide not Your ear [now] at my prayer for relief.
- 57
- You drew near on the day I called to You; You said, Fear not. [James 4:8.]
- 58
- O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul [You have managed my affairs and You have protected my person and my rights]; You have rescued and redeemed my life!
- 59
- O Lord, You have seen my wrong [done to me]; judge and maintain my cause.
- 60
- You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.
- 61
- You have heard their reproach and revilings, O Lord, and all their devices against me--
- 62
- The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all day long.
- 63
- Look at their sitting down and their rising up [their movements, doings, and secret counsels]; I am their singsong [the subject of their derision and merriment]. [Ps. 139:2; Isa. 37:28.]
- 64
- Render to them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
- 65
- You will give them hardness and blindness of heart; Your curse will be upon them.
- 66
- You will pursue and afflict them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens, O Lord.
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Amplified Bible Copyright (c) 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631 All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org
