Why Have You Forsaken Me?

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

1 ^uZedekiah the son of Josiah, ^vwhom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^wConiah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 ^xBut neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

3 King Zedekiah sent ^yJehucal the son of ^zShelemiah, and ^aZephaniah the priest, the son of ^bMaaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please ^cpray for us to the Lord our God.” 4 ^dNow Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, ^efor he had not yet been put in prison. 5 ^fThe army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when ^gthe Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, ^hthey withdrew from Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who ⁱsent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, ^jPharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to ^kreturn to Egypt, to its own land. 8 And ^lthe Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. ^lThey shall capture it and burn it with fire. 9 Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. 10 ^mFor even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and ^lburn this city with fire.’”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

11 Now when ⁿthe Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to ^othe land of Benjamin ^pto receive his portion there ^qamong the people. 13 When he was at ^rthe Benjamin Gate, a sentry there named Irijah the son of ^sShelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ^t“You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” 14 And Jeremiah said, “It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to ^uthe officials. 15 And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him ^vand imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.

16 ^wWhen Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, 17 King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him ^xsecretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, ^y“You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” 18 Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, ^vthat you have put me in prison? 19 ^zWhere are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? 20 Now hear, please, O my lord the king: ^alet my humble plea come before you and ^bdo not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there.” 21 So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to ^cthe court of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers’ street, ^duntil all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in ^cthe court of the guard.

33 ^qAnd when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 ^rthey offered him wine to drink, mixed with ^sgall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, ^tthey divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and ^ukept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, ^vthe King of the Jews.” 38 Then two ^wrobbers were crucified with him, ^xone on the right and one on the left. 39 And ^ythose who passed by ^zderided him, ^awagging their heads 40 and saying, ^b“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ^cIf you are ^dthe Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 ^e“He saved others; ^fhe cannot save himself. ^gHe is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 ^hHe trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 ⁱAnd the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus

45 Now from the sixth hour¹ there was darkness over all the land² until the ninth hour.³ 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus ^jcried out with a loud voice, saying, ^k“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with ^lsour wine, and put it on a reed and ^mgave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus ⁿcried out again with a loud voice and ^oyielded up his spirit.

51 And behold, ^pthe curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And ^qthe earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of ^rthe saints ^swho had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into ^tthe holy city and appeared to many. 54 ^uWhen the centurion and those who were with him, ^vkeeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ^w“Truly this was the Son⁴ of God!”

55 There were also ^xmany women there, looking on ^yfrom a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ^zministering to him, 56 among whom were ^zMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and ^athe mother of the sons of Zebedee.