The children of your servants will continue. Their offspring will be established before you. Psalm 102:28
Lamentations 3
Jeremiah’s Afflictions
1 I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of God’s wrath.
2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness
and not in light.
3 Surely he turns his hand against me
again and again all day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin old.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in dark places,
like those who have been long dead.
7 He has walled me in
so that I cannot get out.
He has made my chains heavy.
8 Yes, when I cry and call for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has enclosed my ways with cut stone.
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in secret places.
11 He has turned me from my way
and pulled me in pieces.
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent his bow
and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to pierce my heart.
14 I have become an object of ridicule to all my people
and their mocking song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness.
He has filled me with a bitter drink.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel.
He has covered me with ashes.
17 You have removed peace from my soul.
I have forgotten happiness.
18 I said, “My strength has perished,
along with my expectations of the LORD.”
19 Remember my suffering and my homelessness,
the bitter drink–the poison.
20 My soul still remembers them
and is bowed down within me.
21 This I recall to mind:
the reason for my hope.
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindness
that we are not consumed,
because his compassion does not fail.
23 His compassion is new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul.
“Therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the one who seeks him.
26 It is good that a man should hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and remain silent,
because God has laid it on him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust,
that there may still be hope.
30 Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him.
Let him be filled full of reproach.
31 For the Lord’s rejection is not forever.
32 For though he causes grief,
yet he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his loving kindness.
33 For he does not willingly cause suffering
or grief to mankind.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to deny the rights of man before the face of the Most High,
36 to ruin a man in a lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he who speaks,
and it comes to pass,
if the Lord did not command it?
38 Do not both adversity and good
come from the mouth of the Most High?
39 Why does a man who is alive complain,
for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and test our ways
and turn back to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven.
42 “We have transgressed and have rebelled.
You have not forgiven.”
43 You have covered us with anger and pursued us.
You have killed.
You have not pitied.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud,
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse
in the midst of the peoples.
46 All of our enemies
have opened their mouths against us.
47 Terror and the pit have come upon us;
devastation and destruction.
48 My eye pours with streams of water,
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes pour without ceasing
and without a break.
50 until the LORD looks down,
and sees from heaven.
51 My eyes bring grief to my soul,
because of all the daughters of my city.
52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird,
those who are my enemies for no reason.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon,
and have cast a stone over me.
54 Waters flowed over my head.
I said, “I am cut off.”
55 I called on your name, LORD,
out of the lowest dungeon.
56 You heard my voice,
“Do not hide your ear
from my groaning and my cry.”
57 You came near on the day that I called on you.
You said, “Do not be afraid.”
58 Lord, you have pleaded my case.
You have redeemed my life.
59 LORD, you see how I have been wronged.
Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeful deeds,
and all their plots against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD,
and all their plots against me,
62 the lips of those that rose up against me,
and their plots against me all day long.
63 You see their sitting down and their rising up.
that I am mocked in their songs.
64 You will pay them back, LORD,
according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them hardness of heart.
Your curse will be upon them.
66 You will pursue them in anger
and destroy them from under the heavens, O LORD.
Hebrews 1
The Supremacy of the Son
1 God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 has at the end of these days spoken to us through his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the universe.
3 His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become much better than the angels, as the more excellent name he has inherited is better than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did he say at any time,
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your father.”? a
and again,
“I will be to him a Father,
and he will be to me a Son.”? b
6 When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says,
“Let all the angels of God worship him.” c
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his servants a flame of fire.” d
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity,
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” e
10 And,
“You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the works of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you continue.
They all will grow old like a garment does.
12 You will roll them up like a mantle,
and they will be changed,
but you are the same.
Your years will not fail.” f
13 But to which of the angels has he told at any time,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet?” g
14 Are they not all serving spirits, sent out to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
a Psalm 2:7
b 2 Samuel 7:14
c Deuteronomy 32:43
d Deuteronomy 32:43
e Psalm 45:6-7
f Psalm 102:25-27
g Psalm 110:1
Psalm 102
Do Not Hide Your Face From Me
A Prayer for the suffering, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD.
1 Hear my prayer, Lord!
Let my cry come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear to me.
Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke.
My bones burn like a torch.
4 My heart wilts like grass and withers.
I forget to eat my bread.
5 I groan, and
my bones stick to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican in the wilderness.
I have become like an owl in the dessert.
7 I watch and have become like a sparrow
that is alone on the housetop.
8 My enemies reproach me all day.
Those who are angry with me use my name as a curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread,
and mixed my drink with tears
10 because of your indignation and your wrath,
for you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a long shadow.
I have withered like grass.
12 But you, O LORD, will remain forever,
your renown endures to all generations.
13 You will arise and have mercy on Zion,
for it is time to have pity on her.
Yes, the set time has come.
14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones,
and have pity on her dust.
15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD,
all the kings of the earth your glory.
16 When the LORD builds up Zion,
he will appear in his glory.
17 He has responded to the prayer of the destitute,
and has not despised their prayer.
18 This will be written for a generation to come.
A people which will be created will praise the LORD.
19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary.
From heaven, the LORD saw the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoner,
to free those who are condemned to death,
21 that men may declare the name of the LORD in Zion,
and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples are gathered together,
the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23 He weakened my strength mid-course.
He shortened my days.
24 I said, “My God, do not take me away in the middle of my life.
You live throughout the years, through all generations.
25 Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will endure.
Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
27 But you are the same.
Your years will have no end.
28 The children of your servants will continue.
Their offspring will be established before you.”
Proverbs 26:21-22
21 As coals are to hot embers,
and wood to fire,
so is a contentious man to kindling strife.