Bible Reading Plan

¹ How the Lord has overshadowed
Daughter Zion with His anger!
He has thrown down Israel's glory
from heaven to earth.
He has abandoned His footstool^[a](a)
in the day of His anger.^(b)

² Without compassion^(c) the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob.
In His wrath He has demolished
the fortified cities^(d) of Daughter Judah.
He brought them to the ground
and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.^(e)

³ He has cut off every horn^(f) of Israel
in His burning anger
and withdrawn His right hand^(g)
in the presence of the enemy.
He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything.^(h)

⁴ He has bent His bow like an enemy;⁽ⁱ⁾
His right hand is positioned like an adversary.
He has killed everyone who was loved,^[b]
pouring out His wrath like fire
on the tent of Daughter Zion.

⁵ The Lord is like an enemy;
He has swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all its palaces
and destroyed its fortified cities.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
within Daughter Judah.^(j)

⁶ He has done violence to His temple^[c]
as if it were a garden booth,
destroying His place of meeting.^(k)
The Lord has abolished
appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion.
He has despised king and priest
in His fierce anger.

⁷ The Lord has rejected His altar,
repudiated His sanctuary;^(l)
He has handed the walls of her palaces
over to the enemy.
They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.

⁸ The Lord determined to destroy
the wall of Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line^(m)
and did not restrain Himself from destroying.
He made the ramparts and walls grieve;
together they waste away.

⁹ Zion's gates have fallen to the ground;⁽ⁿ⁾
He has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.
Her king and her leaders live among the nations,
instruction^[d] is no more,
and even her prophets receive
no vision from the Lord .^(o)

¹⁰ The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence.
They have thrown dust on their heads^(p)
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.^(q)

¹¹ My eyes are worn out from weeping;^(r)
I am churning within.
My heart is poured out in grief^[e](s)
because of the destruction of my dear people,^(t)
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.^(u)

¹² They cry out to their mothers:
Where is the grain and wine?^(v)
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives fade away
in the arms of their mothers.

¹³ What can I say on your behalf?
What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem?
What can I liken you to,
so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion?
For your ruin is as vast as the sea.
Who can heal you?^(w)

¹⁴ Your prophets saw visions for you
that were empty and deceptive;^(x)
they did not reveal your guilt
and so restore your fortunes.^(y)
They saw oracles for you
that were empty and misleading.

¹⁵ All who pass by
scornfully clap their hands^(z) at you.
They mock^[f](aa) and shake their heads^(ab)
at Daughter Jerusalem:
Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,^(ac)
the joy of the whole earth?^(ad)

¹⁶ All your enemies
open their mouths against you.^(ae)
They hiss and gnash their teeth,^(af)
saying, "We have swallowed her up.^(ag)
This is the day we have waited for!
We have lived to see it."

¹⁷ The Lord has done what He planned;
He has accomplished His decree,
which He ordained in days of old.
He has demolished without compassion,^(ah)
letting the enemy gloat over you
and exalting the horn of your adversaries.

¹⁸ The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.
Wall of Daughter Zion,^(ai)
let your tears run down like a river
day and night.^(aj)
Give yourself no relief
and your^[g] eyes no rest.

¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night
from the first watch of the night.
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord's presence.^(ak)
Lift up your hands to Him
for the lives of your children
who are fainting from hunger
on the corner of every street.^(al)

²⁰  Lord , look and consider
who You have done this to.
Should women eat their own children,^(am)
the infants they have nurtured?^[h]
Should priests and prophets
be killed in the Lord's sanctuary?

²¹ Both young and old
are lying on the ground in the streets.
My young men and women
have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of Your anger,
slaughtering without compassion.^(an)

²² You summoned my attackers^[i] on every side,^(ao)
as if for an appointed festival day;
on the day of the Lord 's anger
no one escaped or survived.
My enemy has destroyed
those I nurtured^[j] and reared.

¹ I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God's wrath.
² He has driven me away and forced me to walk
in darkness instead of light.^(a)
3 Yes, He repeatedly turns His hand
against me all day long.

⁴ He has worn away my flesh and skin;^(b)
He has shattered my bones.^(c)
5 He has laid siege against me,^(d)
encircling me with bitterness and hardship.^(e)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those who have been dead for ages.^(f)

⁷ He has walled me in so I cannot escape;^(g)
He has weighed me down with chains.
⁸ Even when I cry out and plead for help,
He rejects my prayer.^(h)
9 He has walled in my ways with cut stones;⁽ⁱ⁾
He has made my paths crooked.^(j)

¹⁰ He is^[a] a bear waiting in ambush,
a lion in hiding.^(k)
11 He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;
He left me desolate.
¹² He strung His bow^(l)
and set me as the target for His arrow.

¹³ He pierced my kidneys
with His arrows.^(m)
14 I am a laughingstock⁽ⁿ⁾ to all my people,^[b]
mocked by their songs^(o) all day long.
¹⁵ He filled me with bitterness,
satiated me with wormwood.^(p)

¹⁶ He ground my teeth on gravel^(q)
and made me cower^[c] in the dust.
¹⁷ My soul has been deprived^[d] of peace;^(r)
I have forgotten what happiness is.
¹⁸ Then I thought: My future^[e] is lost,
as well as my hope from the Lord .

¹⁹ Remember^[f] my affliction and my homelessness,^(s)
the wormwood and the poison.^(t)
20 I continually remember them
and have become depressed.^[g](u)
21 Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:^(v)

²² Because of the Lord 's faithful love^(w)
we do not perish,^[h]
for His mercies never end.
²³ They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness!^(x)
24 I say: The Lord is my portion,^(y)
therefore I will put my hope in Him.

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait^(z) for Him,
to the person who seeks Him.
²⁶ It is good to wait quietly^(aa)
for deliverance from the Lord .^(ab)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke^(ac)
while he is still young.

²⁸ Let him sit alone and be silent,^(ad)
for God has disciplined him.
²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust^(ae)—
perhaps there is still hope.
³⁰ Let him offer his cheek
to the one who would strike him;^(af)
let him be filled with shame.

³¹ For the Lord
will not reject us forever.
³² Even if He causes suffering,
He will show compassion
according to His abundant, faithful love.^(ag)
33 For He does not enjoy bringing affliction^(ah)
or suffering on mankind.

³⁴ Crushing all the prisoners of the land^[i]
beneath one's feet,
³⁵ denying justice to a man^(ai)
in the presence of the Most High,
³⁶ or suppressing a person's lawsuit^(aj)—
the Lord does not approve of these things.

³⁷ Who is there who speaks and it happens,
unless the Lord has ordained it?^(ak)
38 Do not both adversity and good
come from the mouth of the Most High?^(al)
39 Why should any living person complain,
any man, because of the punishment for his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us search out and examine our ways,
and turn back to the Lord .^(am)
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands^(an)
to God in heaven:
⁴² We have sinned and rebelled;
You have not forgiven.^(ao)

⁴³ You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;
You have killed without compassion.^(ap)
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.^(aq)
45 You have made us disgusting filth
among the peoples.^(ar)

⁴⁶ All our enemies
open their mouths against us.^(as)
47 We have experienced panic and pitfall,^(at)
devastation and destruction.
⁴⁸ My eyes flow with streams of tears
because of the destruction of my dear people.

⁴⁹ My eyes overflow unceasingly,
without end,^(au)
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.^(av)
51 My eyes bring me grief
because of the fate of all the women in my city.

⁵² For no apparent reason, my enemies^[j]
hunted me like a bird.^(aw)
53 They dropped me alive into^[k] a pit^(ax)
and threw stones at me.
⁵⁴ Water flooded over my head,^(ay)
and I thought: I'm going to die!^(az)

⁵⁵ I called on Your name, Yahweh,
from the depths of the Pit.^(ba)
56 You hear my plea:
Do not ignore my cry for relief.
⁵⁷ You come near when I call on You;
You say: "Do not be afraid."

⁵⁸ You defend my cause, Lord;^(bb)
You redeem my life.^(bc)
59  Lord , You see the wrong done to me;
judge my case.
⁶⁰ You see all their malice,
all their plots against me.^(bd)

⁶¹  Lord , You hear their insults,^(be)
all their plots against me.
⁶² The slander^[l] and murmuring of my opponents
attack me all day long.
⁶³ When they sit and when they rise, look,
I am mocked by their songs.^(bf)

⁶⁴ You will pay them back what they deserve, Lord ,
according to the work of their hands.^(bg)
65 You will give them a heart filled with anguish.^[m](bh)
May Your curse be on them!
⁶⁶ You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
under Your heavens.^[n][o](bi)

¹ How the gold has become tarnished,
the fine gold become dull!
The stones of the temple^[a] lie scattered
at the corner of every street.^(a)

² Zion's precious people—
once worth their weight in pure gold^(b)—
how they are regarded as clay jars,
the work of a potter's hands!

³ Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my dear people have become cruel
like ostriches^(c) in the wilderness.

⁴ The nursing infant's tongue
clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst.^(d)
Little children beg for bread,
but no one gives them any.

⁵ Those who used to eat delicacies
are destitute in the streets;
those who were reared in purple garments^(e)
huddle in garbage heaps.

⁶ The punishment of my dear people
is greater than that of Sodom,^(f)
which was overthrown in an instant
without a hand laid on it.

⁷ Her dignitaries were brighter than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies^[b] were more ruddy than coral,
their appearance like sapphire.^[c]

⁸ Now they appear darker than soot;^(g)
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become dry like wood.

⁹ Those slain by the sword are better off
than those slain by hunger,
who waste away, pierced with pain
because the fields lack produce.

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women
have cooked their own children;^(h)
they became their food
during the destruction of my dear people.⁽ⁱ⁾

¹¹ The Lord has exhausted His wrath,
poured out His burning anger;
He has ignited a fire in Zion,
and it has consumed her foundations.^(j)

¹² The kings of the earth
and all the world's inhabitants did not believe
that an enemy or adversary
could enter Jerusalem's gates.^(k)

¹³ Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the guilt of her priests,
who shed the blood of the righteous
within her.^(l)

¹⁴ Blind, they stumbled in the streets,^(m)
defiled by this blood,⁽ⁿ⁾
so that no one dared
to touch their garments.

¹⁵ "Stay away! Unclean!" people shouted at them.
"Away, away! Don't touch us!"^(o)
So they wandered aimlessly.^(p)
It was said among the nations,
"They can stay here no longer."

¹⁶ The Lord Himself has scattered them;
He regards them no more.
The priests are not respected;
the elders find no favor.

¹⁷ All the while our eyes were failing
as we looked in vain for assistance;^(q)
we watched from our towers
for a nation^[d] that refused to help.

¹⁸ Our steps were closely followed
so that we could not walk in our streets.
Our end drew near;^(r) our time ran out.
Our end had come!

¹⁹ Those who chased us were swifter
than eagles in the sky;^(s)
they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains
and ambushed us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The Lord 's anointed,^[e] the breath of our life,^[f](t)
was captured in their traps.
We had said about him,
"We will live under his protection among the nations."

²¹ So rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom,^(u)
you resident of the land of Uz!^(v)
Yet the cup^(w) will pass to you as well;
you will get drunk and expose yourself.

²² Daughter Zion, your punishment is complete;
He will not lengthen your exile.^[g]
But He will punish your iniquity, Daughter Edom,
and will expose your sins.^(x)

¹ Yahweh, remember what has happened to us.
Look, and see our disgrace!^(a)
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our houses to foreigners.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are widows.
⁴ We must pay for the water we drink;
our wood comes at a price.
⁵ We are closely pursued;
we are tired, and no one offers us rest.
⁶ We made a treaty with^[a] Egypt
and with Assyria, to get enough food.^(b)
7 Our fathers sinned; they no longer exist,
but we bear their punishment.
⁸ Slaves rule over us;^(c)
no one rescues us from their hands.
⁹ We secure our food at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the wilderness.
¹⁰ Our skin is as hot^[b] as an oven^(d)
from the ravages of hunger.
¹¹ Women are raped in Zion,
girls in the cities of Judah.
¹² Princes are hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.^(e)
13 Young men labor at millstones;^(f)
boys stumble under loads of wood.
¹⁴ The elders have left the city gate,
the young men, their music.^(g)
15 Joy has left our hearts;^(h)
our dancing has turned to mourning.
¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head.⁽ⁱ⁾
Woe to us, for we have sinned.^(j)
17 Because of this, our heart is sick;
because of these, our eyes grow dim:^(k)
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate
and has jackals prowling in it.^(l)
19 You, Lord , are enthroned forever;
Your throne endures from generation to generation.^(m)
20 Why have You forgotten us forever,⁽ⁿ⁾
abandoned us for our entire lives?
²¹  Lord , restore us to Yourself, so we may return;^(o)
renew our days as in former times,
²² unless You have completely rejected us
and are intensely angry with us.