Lamentations 1

 [1] 
Sorrow in Jerusalem
 ¹  Jerusalem, once so full of people,
  is now deserted.
She who was once great among the nations
  now sits alone like a widow.
Once the queen of all the earth,
  she is now a slave.

 ²  She sobs through the night;
  tears stream down her cheeks.
Among all her lovers,
  there is no one left to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her
  and become her enemies.

 ³  Judah has been led away into captivity,
  oppressed with cruel slavery.
She lives among foreign nations
  and has no place of rest.
Her enemies have chased her down,
  and she has nowhere to turn.

 ⁴  The roads to Jerusalem [4]  are in mourning,
  for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals.
The city gates are silent,
  her priests groan,
her young women are crying—
  how bitter is her fate!

 ⁵  Her oppressors have become her masters,
  and her enemies prosper,
for the LORD has punished Jerusalem
  for her many sins.
Her children have been captured
  and taken away to distant lands.

 ⁶  All the majesty of beautiful Jerusalem [6] 
  has been stripped away.
Her princes are like starving deer
  searching for pasture.
They are too weak to run
  from the pursuing enemy.

 ⁷  In the midst of her sadness and wandering,
  Jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor.
But now she has fallen to her enemy,
  and there is no one to help her.
Her enemy struck her down
  and laughed as she fell.

 ⁸  Jerusalem has sinned greatly,
  so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag.
All who once honored her now despise her,
  for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated.
All she can do is groan
  and hide her face.

 ⁹  She defiled herself with immorality
  and gave no thought to her future.
Now she lies in the gutter
  with no one to lift her out.
"LORD, see my misery," she cries.
  "The enemy has triumphed."

 ¹⁰  The enemy has plundered her completely,
  taking every precious thing she owns.
She has seen foreigners violate her sacred Temple,
  the place the LORD had forbidden them to enter.

 ¹¹  Her people groan as they search for bread.
  They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive.
"O LORD, look," she mourns,
  "and see how I am despised.

 ¹²  "Does it mean nothing to you, all you who pass by?
  Look around and see if there is any suffering like mine,
which the LORD brought on me
  when he erupted in fierce anger.

 ¹³  "He has sent fire from heaven that burns in my bones.
  He has placed a trap in my path and turned me back.
He has left me devastated,
  racked with sickness all day long.

 ¹⁴  "He wove my sins into ropes
  to hitch me to a yoke of captivity.
The Lord sapped my strength and turned me over to my enemies;
  I am helpless in their hands.

 ¹⁵  "The Lord has treated my mighty men
  with contempt.
At his command a great army has come
  to crush my young warriors.
The Lord has trampled his beloved city [15] 
  like grapes are trampled in a winepress.

 ¹⁶  "For all these things I weep;
  tears flow down my cheeks.
No one is here to comfort me;
  any who might encourage me are far away.
My children have no future,
  for the enemy has conquered us."

 ¹⁷  Jerusalem reaches out for help,
  but no one comforts her.
Regarding his people Israel, [17] 
  the LORD has said,
"Let their neighbors be their enemies!
  Let them be thrown away like a filthy rag!"

 ¹⁸  "The LORD is right," Jerusalem says,
  "for I rebelled against him.
Listen, people everywhere;
  look upon my anguish and despair,
for my sons and daughters
  have been taken captive to distant lands.

 ¹⁹  "I begged my allies for help,
  but they betrayed me.
My priests and leaders
  starved to death in the city,
even as they searched for food
  to save their lives.

 ²⁰  "LORD, see my anguish!
  My heart is broken
and my soul despairs,
  for I have rebelled against you.
In the streets the sword kills,
  and at home there is only death.

 ²¹  "Others heard my groans,
  but no one turned to comfort me.
When my enemies heard about my troubles,
  they were happy to see what you had done.
Oh, bring the day you promised,
  when they will suffer as I have suffered.

 ²²  "Look at all their evil deeds, LORD.
  Punish them,
as you have punished me
  for all my sins.
My groans are many,
  and I am sick at heart."

Lamentations 2

God's Anger at Sin
 ¹  The Lord in his anger
  has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem. [1] 
The fairest of Israel's cities lies in the dust,
  thrown down from the heights of heaven.
In his day of great anger,
  the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple. [1] 

 ²  Without mercy the Lord has destroyed
  every home in Israel. [2] 
In his anger he has broken down
  the fortress walls of beautiful Jerusalem. [2] 
He has brought them to the ground,
  dishonoring the kingdom and its rulers.

 ³  All the strength of Israel
  vanishes beneath his fierce anger.
The Lord has withdrawn his protection
  as the enemy attacks.
He consumes the whole land of Israel
  like a raging fire.

 ⁴  He bends his bow against his people,
  as though he were their enemy.
His strength is used against them
  to kill their finest youth.
His fury is poured out like fire
  on beautiful Jerusalem. [4] 

 ⁵  Yes, the Lord has vanquished Israel
  like an enemy.
He has destroyed her palaces
  and demolished her fortresses.
He has brought unending sorrow and tears
  upon beautiful Jerusalem.

 ⁶  He has broken down his Temple
  as though it were merely a garden shelter.
The LORD has blotted out all memory
  of the holy festivals and Sabbath days.
Kings and priests fall together
  before his fierce anger.

 ⁷  The Lord has rejected his own altar;
  he despises his own sanctuary.
He has given Jerusalem's palaces
  to her enemies.
They shout in the LORD's Temple
  as though it were a day of celebration.

 ⁸  The LORD was determined
  to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem.
He made careful plans for their destruction,
  then did what he had planned.
Therefore, the ramparts and walls
  have fallen down before him.

 ⁹  Jerusalem's gates have sunk into the ground.
  He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
  her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
  no more visions from the LORD.

 ¹⁰  The leaders of beautiful Jerusalem
  sit on the ground in silence.
They are clothed in burlap
  and throw dust on their heads.
The young women of Jerusalem
  hang their heads in shame.

 ¹¹  I have cried until the tears no longer come;
  my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
  as I see the desperate plight of my people.
Little children and tiny babies
  are fainting and dying in the streets.

 ¹²  They cry out to their mothers,
  "We need food and drink!"
Their lives ebb away in the streets
  like the life of a warrior wounded in battle.
They gasp for life
  as they collapse in their mothers' arms.

 ¹³  What can I say about you?
  Who has ever seen such sorrow?
O daughter of Jerusalem,
  to what can I compare your anguish?
O virgin daughter of Zion,
  how can I comfort you?
For your wound is as deep as the sea.
  Who can heal you?

 ¹⁴  Your prophets have said
  so many foolish things, false to the core.
They did not save you from exile
  by pointing out your sins.
Instead, they painted false pictures,
  filling you with false hope.

 ¹⁵  All who pass by jeer at you.
  They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem, [15]  saying,
"Is this the city called `Most Beautiful in All the World'
  and `Joy of All the Earth'?"

 ¹⁶  All your enemies mock you.
  They scoff and snarl and say,
"We have destroyed her at last!
  We have long waited for this day,
  and it is finally here!"

 ¹⁷  But it is the LORD who did just as he planned.
  He has fulfilled the promises of disaster
  he made long ago.
He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.
  He has caused her enemies to gloat over her
  and has given them power over her.

 ¹⁸  Cry aloud [18]  before the Lord,
  O walls of beautiful Jerusalem!
Let your tears flow like a river
  day and night.
Give yourselves no rest;
  give your eyes no relief.

 ¹⁹  Rise during the night and cry out.
  Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him in prayer,
  pleading for your children,
for in every street
  they are faint with hunger.

 ²⁰  "O LORD, think about this!
  Should you treat your own people this way?
Should mothers eat their own children,
  those they once bounced on their knees?
Should priests and prophets be killed
  within the Lord's Temple?

 ²¹  "See them lying in the streets—
  young and old,
boys and girls,
  killed by the swords of the enemy.
You have killed them in your anger,
  slaughtering them without mercy.

 ²²  "You have invited terrors from all around,
  as though you were calling them to a day of feasting.
In the day of the LORD's anger,
  no one has escaped or survived.
The enemy has killed all the children
  whom I carried and raised."

<<  1 Each of the first four chapters of this book is an acrostic, laid out in the order of the Hebrew alphabet. The first word of each verse begins with a successive Hebrew letter. Chapters 1, 2, and 4 have one verse for each of the 22 Hebrew letters. Chapter 3 contains 22 stanzas of three verses each. Though chapter 5 has 22 verses, it is not an acrostic.
<<  1:4 Hebrew Zion; also in 1:17.
<<  1:6 Hebrew of the daughter of Zion.
<<  1:15 Hebrew the virgin daughter of Judah.
<<  1:17 Hebrew Jacob. The names "Jacob" and "Israel" are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
<<  2:1a Hebrew the daughter of Zion; also in 2:8, 10, 18. 2:1b Hebrew his footstool.
<<  2:2a Hebrew Jacob; also in 2:3b. See note on 1:17. 2:2b Hebrew the daughter of Judah; also in 2:5.
<<  2:4 Hebrew on the tent of the daughter of Zion.
<<  2:15 Hebrew the daughter of Jerusalem.
<<  2:18 Hebrew Their heart cried.

Hebrews 10 : 1-18

Christ's Sacrifice Once for All
 ¹  The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.  ²  If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
   ³  But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.  ⁴  For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.  ⁵  That is why, when Christ [5]  came into the world, he said to God,

"You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
  But you have given me a body to offer.
 ⁶  You were not pleased with burnt offerings
  or other offerings for sin.
 ⁷  Then I said, `Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
  as is written about me in the Scriptures.'" [7] 

 ⁸  First, Christ said, "You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them" (though they are required by the law of Moses).  ⁹  Then he said, "Look, I have come to do your will." He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.  ¹⁰  For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.    ¹¹  Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.  ¹²  But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand.  ¹³  There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet.  ¹⁴  For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
   ¹⁵  And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

 ¹⁶  "This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."  ¹⁷  Then he says,

"I will never again remember
  their sins and lawless deeds." [17] 

 ¹⁸  And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

<<  10:5 Greek he; also in 10:8.
<<  10:5-7 Ps 40:6-8 (Greek version).
<<  10:16a Greek after those days. 10:16b Jer 31:33a.
<<  10:17 Jer 31:34b.