1 u“But now they laugh at me,
men who are vyounger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
men whose vigor is gone?
3 Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;
4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food.1
5 They are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray;
under the wnettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9 “And now I have become their xsong;
I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my ycord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint2 in my presence.
12 On my right hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path;
they promote my calamity;
they need no one to help them.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
16 “And now my soul is zpoured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 aThe night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18 With great force my garment is disfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19 God3 has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
21 You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you bpersecute me.
22 cYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for all living.
24 “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help?4
25 dDid not I weep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But ewhen I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I fwaited for light, darkness came.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I ggo about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother of hjackals
and a companion of ostriches.
30 iMy skin turns jblack and falls from me,
and my kbones burn with heat.
31 My lyre is turned lto mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
Taste and See That the Lord Is Good
1 Of David, when he bchanged his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall ccontinually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its dboast in the Lord;
elet the humble hear and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
faround those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 Oh, gtaste and see that the Lord is good!
hBlessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him ihave no lack!
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack jno good thing.
11 kCome, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 lWhat man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 mKeep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 nTurn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and opursue it.
15 The peyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the qbrokenhearted
and saves the rcrushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord sdelivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
tnot one of them is broken.
21 Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
The Proclamation of Cyrus
1 aIn the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, bthat the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the cGod of heaven, dhas given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and ehe has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and frebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God gwho is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each hsurvivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also ibrought out the jvessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to kSheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
Rulers and Prophets Denounced
1 And I said:
Hear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
Is it not for you to zknow justice?—
2 you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin from off my people1
and their flesh from off their bones,
3 who aeat the flesh of my people,
and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
and chop them up blike meat in a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.
4 Then they will cry to the Lord,
cbut he will not answer them;
dhe will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.
5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
who elead my people astray,
who cry f“Peace”
when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
who puts nothing into their mouths.
6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
and darkness to you, without divination.
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;
7 the seers shall be disgraced,
and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all gcover their lips,
for there is no answer from God.
8 But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Lord,
and with justice and might,
to hdeclare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
who detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
10 who ibuild Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 Its heads give judgment for a jbribe;
its priests teach for a price;
its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the Lord and say,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
kNo disaster shall come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
lZion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
Sacrifices Pleasing to God
1 Let sbrotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show thospitality to strangers, for thereby some have uentertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are vin prison, was though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the xsexually immoral and yadulterous. 5 Keep your life free from zlove of money, and be acontent with what you have, for he has said, b“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
c“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and dimitate their faith. 8 eJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 fWe have an altar from which those who serve the tent1 have no right to eat. 11 For gthe bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered houtside the gate in order to isanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the jreproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the kcity that is lto come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a msacrifice of praise to God, that is, the nfruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to oshare what you have, for such psacrifices are pleasing to God.
17 qObey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a rclear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, sthe great tshepherd of the sheep, uby the blood of the veternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, wworking in us2 that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Final Greetings
22 I appeal to you, brothers,3 bear with my word of xexhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you.
