Lamentations 4 - Legacy Standard Bible

Lamentations 4

Yahweh’s Wrath Spent

א Aleph

How dark the gold has become,

How the pure gold has changed!

The sacred stones are poured out

At the head of every street.

ב Beth

The precious sons of Zion,

Weighed against fine gold,

How they are regarded as earthen jars,

The work of a potter’s hands!

ג Gimel

Even jackals offer the breast;

They nurse their young;

But the daughter of my people has become cruel

Like ostriches in the wilderness.

ד Daleth

The tongue of the nursing baby cleaves

To the roof of its mouth because of thirst;

The infants ask for bread,

But no one breaks it for them.

ה He

Those who ate delicacies

Are desolate in the streets;

Those reared in crimson

Embrace ash pits.

ו Vav

So the iniquity of the daughter of my people

Is greater than the sin of Sodom,

Which was overthrown as in a moment,

And no hands whirled toward her.

ז Zayin

Her Nazirites were purer than snow;

They were whiter than milk;

They were more ruddy in body than corals,

Their polishing was like lapis lazuli.

ח Heth

Their form is blacker than soot;

They are not recognized in the streets;

Their skin is shriveled on their bones;

It is withered, it has become like wood.

ט Teth

Better are those pierced through with the sword

Than those pierced through with hunger;

For their life flows away, being stricken

For lack of the produce of the field.

י Yodh

The hands of compassionate women

Boiled their own children;

They became food for them

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

כ Kaph

Yahweh has spent His wrath;

He has poured out His burning anger;

And He has kindled a fire in Zion

Which has devoured its foundations.

ל Lamedh

The kings of the earth did not believe,

Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,

That the adversary and the enemy

Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

מ Mem

Because of the sins of her prophets

And the iniquities of her priests,

Who have shed in her midst

The blood of the righteous;

נ Nun

They wandered, blind, in the streets;

They were defiled with blood

So that no one could touch their garments.

ס Samekh

“Depart! Unclean!” they cried of themselves.

“Depart, depart, do not touch!”

So they fled and wandered;

Men among the nations said,

“They shall not continue to sojourn with us.”

פ Pe

The presence of Yahweh has eradicated them;

He will not continue to look at them;

They did not honor the priests;

They did not favor the elders.

ע Ayin

Yet our eyes were spent,

Looking for help was vanity;

In our watching we have watched

For a nation that could not save.

צ Tsadhe

They hunted our steps

So that we could not walk in our open squares;

Our end drew near,

Our days were finished,

For our end had come.

ק Qoph

Our pursuers were swifter

Than the eagles of the sky;

They hotly pursued us on the mountains;

They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

ר Resh

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh,

Was captured in their pits,

Of whom we had said, “Under his shadow

We shall live among the nations.”

שׂ Sin

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

Who inhabits the land of Uz;

But the cup will pass on to you as well;

You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

ת Tav

The punishment of your iniquity has come to an end, O daughter of Zion;

He will exile you no longer.

But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;

He will expose your sins!

Galatians 1 - 2

Greetings and Grace

Paul, an apostle—not sent from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Distorting the Gospel

6 I marvel that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, 7 which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a slave of Christ.

Paul Called by God

11 For I make known to you, brothers, that the gospel which I am proclaiming as good news is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who had set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might proclaim Him as good news among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. 18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which are in Christ; 23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news of the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they were glorifying God because of me.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. 2 And I went up because of a revelation, and I laid out to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, lest somehow I might be running, or had run, in vain. 3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 But this was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. 5 But we did not yield in subjection to them for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. 6 But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. 7 But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised 8 (for He who worked in Peter unto his apostleship to the circumcised worked in me also unto the Gentiles), 9 and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only they asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter (Cephas)

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he began to shrink back and separate himself, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before everyone, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? 15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Psalm 132

Yahweh Has Chosen Zion

A Song of Ascents.

Remember, O Yahweh, on David’s behalf,

All his affliction;

How he swore to Yahweh

And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,

“Surely I will not come into my house,

Nor lie in the comfort of my bed;

I will not give sleep to my eyes

Or slumber to my eyelids,

Until I find a place for Yahweh,

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah,

We found it in the fields of Jaar.

Let us come into His dwelling place;

Let us worship at the footstool of His feet.

Arise, O Yahweh, to Your resting place,

You and the ark of Your strength.

Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,

And let Your holy ones sing for joy.

For the sake of David Your servant,

Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

Yahweh has sworn to David

A truth from which He will not turn back:

“Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.

If your sons keep My covenant

And My testimony which I will teach them,

Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.”

For Yahweh has chosen Zion;

He has desired it for His habitation.

“This is My resting place forever;

Here I will inhabit, for I have desired it.

I will abundantly bless her provision;

I will satisfy her needy with bread.

Her priests also I will clothe with salvation,

And her holy ones will sing loudly for joy.

There I will cause the horn of David to spring up;

I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed.

His enemies I will clothe with shame,

But upon him, his crown shall blossom.”