From: "FamilyNet"
Bible Reading for August 21
Lamentations 1
[1] How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people how is she become
as a widow she that was was great among the nations, and princess among the
provinces, how is she become tributary [2] She weepeth sore in the night, and
her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort
her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her
enemies. [3] Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because
of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all
her persecutors overtook her between the straits. [4] The ways of Zion do
mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her
priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
[5] Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath
afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone
into captivity before the enemy.
[6] And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are
become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength
before the pursuer.
[7] Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all
her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into
the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did
mock at her sabbaths.
[8] Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that
honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she
sigheth, and turneth backward.
[9] Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end;
therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my
affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself. [10] The adversary hath
spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the
heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should
not enter into thy congregation. [11] All her people sigh, they seek bread;
they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O
LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.
[12] Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be
any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath
afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. [13] From above hath he sent fire
into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my
feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
[14] The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed,
and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath
delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. [15] The
Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath
called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the
virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress. [16] For these things I
weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that
should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the
enemy prevailed. [17] Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to
comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries
should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. [18]
The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I
pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are
gone into captivity.
[19] I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders
gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their
souls.
[20] Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart
is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword
bereaveth, at home there is as death. [21] They have heard that I sigh: there
is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are
glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called,
and they shall be like unto me. [22] Let all their wickedness come before
thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions:
for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
Lamentations 2
[1] How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger,
and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered
not his footstool in the day of his anger! [2] The Lord hath swallowed up all
the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his
wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to
the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
[3] He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn
back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a
flaming fire, which devoureth round about. [4] He hath bent his bow like an
enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were
pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out
his fury like fire. [5] The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel,
he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and
hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. [6] And he
hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath
destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts
and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of
his anger the king and the priest. [7] The Lord hath cast off his altar, he
hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up 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 a solemn feast. [8] The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of
the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his
hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament;
they languished together.
[9] Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars:
her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her
prophets also find no vision from the LORD. [10] The elders of the daughter of
Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their
heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem
hang down their heads to the ground.
[11] Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured
upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the
children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. [12] They say to
their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the
streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
[13] What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to
thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort
thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can
heal thee?
[14] Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have
not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for
thee false burdens and causes of banishment. [15] All that pass by clap their
hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem,
saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of
the whole earth? [16] All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee:
they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly
this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. [17] The
LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he
had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied:
and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn
of thine adversaries.
[18] Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let
tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the
apple of thine eye cease.
[19] Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out
thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward
him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of
every street.
[20] Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women
eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet
be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? [21] The young and the old lie on the
ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword;
thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not
pitied. [22] Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so
that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I
have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
Lamentations 3
[1] I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. [2] He
hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. [3] Surely
against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
[4] My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. [5] He
hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. [6] He hath
set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. [7] He hath hedged me
about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
[8] Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. [9] He hath inclosed
my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. [10] He was unto me as
a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. [11] He hath turned
aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
[12] He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. [13] He hath
caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. [14] I was a derision
to all my people; and their song all the day. [15] He hath filled me with
bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
[16] He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with
ashes.
[17] And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
[18] And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: [19]
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. [20] My
soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. [21] This I recall
to my mind, therefore have I hope. [22] It is of the LORD's mercies that we
are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
[23] They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. [24] The LORD is
my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. [25] The LORD is good
unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
[26] It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation
of the LORD.
[27] It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. [28] He sitteth
alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
[29] He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. [30] He
giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
[31] For the Lord will not cast off for ever: [32] But though he cause grief,
yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
[33] For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. [34] To
crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, [35] To turn aside the
right of a man before the face of the most High, [36] To subvert a man in his
cause, the Lord approveth not. [37] Who is he that saith, and it cometh to
pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
[38] Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? [39]
Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
[40] Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. [41] Let us
lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. [42] We have
transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. [43] Thou hast covered
with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
[44] Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass
through.
[45] Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the
people.
[46] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. [47] Fear and a
snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. [48] Mine eye runneth down
with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[49] Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, [50]
Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. [51] Mine eye affecteth mine
heart because of all the daughters of my city. [52] Mine enemies chased me
sore, like a bird, without cause. [53] They have cut off my life in the
dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. [54] Waters flowed over mine head; then I
said, I am cut off. [55] I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low
dungeon. [56] Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at
my cry.
[57] Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear
not.
[58] O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my
life.
[59] O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. [60] Thou hast seen
all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
[61] Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations
against me;
[62] The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me
all the day.
[63] Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick. [64]
Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
[65] Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. [66] Persecute and
destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.
Lamentations 4
[1] How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones
of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. [2] The precious
sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen
pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! [3] Even the sea monsters draw
out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people
is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
[4] The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for
thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. [5]
They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were
brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. [6] For the punishment of the
iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the
sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
[7] Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were
more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: [8] Their
visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin
cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
[9] They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with
hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the
field.
[10] The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were
their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. [11] The LORD hath
accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a
fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
[12] The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not
have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the
gates of Jerusalem.
[13] For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that
have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, [14] They have wandered
as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that
men could not touch their garments. [15] They cried unto them, Depart ye; it
is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they
said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
[16] The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them:
they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
[17] As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we
have watched for a nation that could not save us. [18] They hunt our steps,
that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for
our end is come. [19] Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the
heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the
wilderness. [20] The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was
taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the
heathen.
[21] Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz;
the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt
make thyself naked.
[22] The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he
will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O
daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.
Lamentations 5
[1] Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
[2] Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. [3] We are
orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. [4] We have drunken our
water for money; our wood is sold unto us. [5] Our necks are under
persecution: we labour, and have no rest. [6] We have given the hand to the
Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
[7] Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
[8] Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of
their hand.
[9] We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the
wilderness.
[10] Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. [11] They
ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. [12] Princes
are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
[13] They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
[14] The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
[15] The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. [16]
The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! [17] For
this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. [18] Because of
the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
[19] Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to
generation.
[20] Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? [21]
Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of
old.
[22] But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
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* Origin: FamilyNet Sponsored by http://www.christian-wellness.net (8:8/2)
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