Lamentations 4, Galatians 1 - 2, Psalm 132

Yahweh’s Wrath Spent

א Aleph

How ^adark the gold has become,How the pure gold has changed!The sacred stones are poured outAt the head of every street.

ב Beth

²The precious sons of Zion,Weighed against fine gold,How they are regarded as ^aearthen jars,The work of a potter’s hands!

ג Gimel

³Even ^ajackals offer the breast;They nurse their young;But the daughter of my people has become ^bcruelLike ^costriches in the wilderness.

ד Daleth

⁴The ^atongue of the nursing baby cleavesTo the roof of its mouth because of ^bthirst;The infants ^cask for bread,But no one breaks it for them.

ה He

⁵Those who ate ^adelicaciesAre desolate in the streets;Those ¹reared in crimsonEmbrace ash pits.

ו Vav

⁶So the ¹iniquity of the daughter of my peopleIs greater than the ²^,^asin of Sodom,Which was ^boverthrown as in a moment,And no hands ³whirled toward her.

ז Zayin

⁷Her ¹Nazirites were ^apurer than snow;They were whiter than milk;They were more ruddy in ²body than corals,Their polishing was like ³^,^blapis lazuli.

ח Heth

⁸Their form is ^ablacker than soot;They are not recognized in the streets;Their ^bskin is shriveled on their bones;It is withered, it has become like wood.

ט Teth

⁹Better are those ^apierced through with the swordThan those pierced through with hunger;For their life ^bflows away, being strickenFor lack of the produce of ¹the field.

י Yodh

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women^aBoiled their own children;They became ^bfood for themBecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

כ Kaph

¹¹Yahweh has ^aspent His wrath;He has poured out His burning anger;And He has ^bkindled a fire in ZionWhich has devoured its foundations.

ל Lamedh

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe,Nor did any of ^athe inhabitants of the world,That the adversary and the enemyCould ^benter the gates of Jerusalem.

מ Mem

¹³Because of the sins of her ^aprophetsAnd the iniquities of her priests,Who have shed in her midstThe ^bblood of the righteous;

נ Nun

¹⁴They wandered, ^ablind, in the streets;They were defiled with ^bbloodSo that no one could touch their ^cgarments.

ס Samekh

¹⁵“Depart! ^aUnclean!” ¹they cried of themselves.“Depart, depart, do not touch!”So they ^bfled and wandered;Men among the nations said,“They shall not continue to sojourn with us.”

פ Pe

¹⁶The presence of Yahweh has eradicated them;He will not continue to look at them;They did not ¹^,^ahonor the priests;They did not favor the elders.

ע Ayin

¹⁷Yet our eyes were spent,Looking for ¹help was ^avanity;In our watching we have watchedFor a ^bnation that could not save.

צ Tsadhe

¹⁸They ^ahunted our stepsSo that we could not walk in our open squares;Our ^bend drew near,Our days were ¹finished,For our end had come.

ק Qoph

¹⁹Our pursuers were ^aswifterThan the eagles of the sky;They hotly pursued us on the mountains;They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

ר Resh

²⁰The ^abreath of our nostrils, the ^banointed of Yahweh,Was ^ccaptured in their pits,Of whom we had said, “Under his ^dshadowWe shall live among the nations.”

שׂ Sin

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^aEdom,Who inhabits the land of Uz;But the ^bcup will pass on to you as well;You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

ת Tav

²²The punishment of your iniquity has come ^ato an end, O daughter of Zion;He will exile you no longer.But He ^bwill punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;He will expose your sins!

Greetings and Grace

1Paul, ^aan apostle—^bnot sent from men nor through man, but ^cthrough Jesus Christ and God the Father, who ^draised Him from the dead— ²and all ^athe brothers who are with me, To ^bthe churches of Galatia:

³^aGrace to you and peace from ¹God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who ^agave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from ^bthis present evil ¹age, according to the will of ^cour God and Father, ⁵^ato whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Distorting the Gospel

⁶I marvel that you are so quickly deserting ^aHim who called you ¹by the grace of Christ for a ^bdifferent gospel, ⁷which is really not another, only there are some who are ^adisturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we, or ^aan angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel ¹contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be ²^,^baccursed! ⁹As we ^ahave said before, so I say again now, ^bif any man is proclaiming to you a gospel ¹contrary to what you received, let him be ²^,^caccursed!

¹⁰For am I now ^aseeking 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 ^bslave of Christ.

Paul Called by God

¹¹For ^aI make known to you, brothers, that the gospel which I am proclaiming as good news is ^bnot according to man. ¹²For ^aI neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a ^brevelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³For you have heard of ^amy former conduct in Judaism, how I ^bused to persecute ^cthe church of God beyond measure and ^dtried to destroy it. ¹⁴And I ^awas advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my ^bfathers. ¹⁵But when God, who had set me apart from my mother’s womb and ^acalled me through His grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might ^aproclaim Him as good news among the Gentiles, ^bI did not immediately consult with ¹^,^cflesh and blood, ¹⁷^anor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to ^bDamascus.

¹⁸Then ^athree years later I went up ^bto Jerusalem to ¹become acquainted with ^cCephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I did not see any other of the apostles except ¹^,^aJames, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰(Now in what I am writing to you, ¹I assure you ^abefore God that I am not lying!) ²¹Then ^aI went into the regions of ^bSyria and ^cCilicia. ²²And I was still unknown by ¹sight to ^athe churches of Judea which are ^bin Christ; ²³but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news of ^athe faith which he once ^btried to destroy.” ²⁴And they ^awere glorifying God ¹because of me.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2Then after fourteen years I ^awent up again to Jerusalem with ^bBarnabas, taking ^cTitus along also. ²And I went up ¹because of a ^arevelation, and I laid out to them the ^bgospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, lest somehow I might be ^crunning, or had run, in vain. ³But not even ^aTitus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was ^bcompelled to be circumcised. ⁴But this was because of the ^afalse brothers secretly brought in, who ^bhad sneaked in to spy out our ^cfreedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to ^denslave us. ⁵But we did not yield in subjection to them for even ¹a moment, so that ^athe truth of the gospel would remain with you. ⁶But from those who ¹were of high ^areputation (what they were makes no difference to me; ^bGod ²shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. ⁷But on the contrary, seeing that I had been ^aentrusted with the ^bgospel ¹to the uncircumcised, just as ^cPeter had been ²to the circumcised ⁸(for He who worked in Peter unto his ^aapostleship ¹to the circumcised worked in me also unto the Gentiles), ⁹and recognizing ^athe grace that had been given to me, ^bJames and ^cCephas and ¹John, who were ^dreputed to be ^epillars, gave to me and ^fBarnabas the right ²hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰Only they asked us to remember the poor—^athe very thing I also was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter (Cephas)

¹¹But when ^aCephas came to ^bAntioch, I opposed him to his face, because he ¹stood condemned. ¹²For prior to the coming of certain men from ^aJames, he used to ^beat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he began to shrink back and separate himself, ^cfearing ¹the party of the circumcision. ¹³And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even ^aBarnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that they ^awere not ¹straightforward about ^bthe truth of the gospel, I said to ^cCephas before everyone, “If you, being a Jew, ^dlive like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?²

¹⁵“We are ^aJews by nature and not ^bsinners from among the Gentiles; ¹⁶nevertheless ¹knowing that ^aa 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 ^bfaith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since ^cby the works of ²the Law no ³flesh will be justified. ¹⁷“But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found ^asinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? ^bMay it never be! ¹⁸“For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I ^aprove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹“For through ¹the Law I ^adied to ²the Law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰“I have been ^acrucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but ^bChrist lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in ^cthe Son of God, who ^dloved me and ^egave Himself up for me. ²¹“I do not set aside the grace of God, for ^aif righteousness comes through ¹the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Yahweh Has Chosen Zion

132

A Song of Ascents.

Remember, O Yahweh, on David’s behalf,All ^ahis affliction;²How he swore to YahwehAnd vowed to ^athe Mighty One of Jacob,³“Surely I will not come into ¹^,^amy house,Nor ²lie in the ³comfort of my bed;⁴I will not ^agive sleep to my eyesOr slumber to my eyelids,⁵Until I find a ^aplace for Yahweh,¹A dwelling place for ^bthe Mighty One of Jacob.”⁶Behold, we heard of it in ^aEphrathah,We found it in the ^bfields of ¹Jaar.⁷Let us come into His ¹^,^adwelling place;Let us ^bworship at the ^cfootstool of His feet.⁸^aArise, O Yahweh, to Your ^bresting place,You and the ark of Your ^cstrength.⁹Let Your priests be ^aclothed with righteousness,And let Your ^bholy ones sing for joy.¹⁰For the sake of David Your servant,Do not turn away the face of Your ^aanointed.¹¹Yahweh has ^asworn to DavidA truth from which He will not turn back:“^bOf the fruit of your ¹body I will set upon your throne.¹²“If your sons keep My covenantAnd My testimony which I will teach them,Their sons also shall ^asit upon your throne forever.”¹³For Yahweh has ^achosen Zion;He has ^bdesired it for His habitation.¹⁴“This is My ^aresting place forever;Here I will ^binhabit, for I have desired it.¹⁵“I will abundantly ^abless her provision;I will ^bsatisfy her needy with bread.¹⁶“Her ^apriests also I will clothe with salvation,And her ^bholy ones will sing loudly for joy.¹⁷“There I will cause the ^ahorn of David to spring up;I have prepared a ^blamp for Mine anointed.¹⁸“His enemies I will ^aclothe with shame,But upon him, his ^bcrown shall blossom.”