American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
Thus saith Jehovah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.
Thus saith Jehovah: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith Jehovah; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
And there is hope for thy latter end, saith Jehovah; and thy children shall come again to their own border.
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart {Hebrew: soundeth.}yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.
Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide-posts; set thy heart toward the highway, even the way by which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
How long wilt thou go hither and thither, O thou backsliding daughter? for Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth: A woman shall encompass a man.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the {Greek: Magi. Compare Esther 1.13; Daniel 2.12; Acts 13.6, 8.}Wise-men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had exactly learned of the {Greek: Magi. Compare Esther 1.13; Daniel 2.12; Acts 13.6, 8.}Wise-men.
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
{Jeremiah 31:15.}A voice was heard in Ramah,Weeping and great mourning,Rachel weeping for her children;And she would not be comforted, because they are not.
The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he {Some ancient authorities read declareth to men.}commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:
Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us:Behold, and see our reproach.
Our inheritance is turned unto strangers,Our houses unto aliens.
We are orphans and fatherless;Our mothers are as widows.
We have drunken our water for money;Our wood is {Hebrew: cometh for price.}sold unto us.
Our pursuers are upon our necks:We are weary, and have no rest.
We have given the hand to the Egyptians,And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Our fathers sinned, and are not;And we have borne their iniquities.
Servants rule over us:There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
We get our bread at the peril of our lives,Because of the sword of the wilderness.
Our skin is {Or, hot}black like an oven,Because of the burning heat of famine.
They ravished the women in Zion,The virgins in the cities of Judah.
Princes were hanged up by their hand:The faces of elders were not honored.
The young men bare the mill;And the children stumbled under the wood.
The elders have ceased from the gate,The young men from their music.
The joy of our heart is ceased;Our dance is turned into mourning.
The crown is fallen from our head:Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
For this our heart is faint;For these things our eyes are dim;
For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:The {Or, jackels}foxes walk upon it.
Thou, O Jehovah, {Or, sittest as King}abidest for ever;Thy throne is from generation to generation.
Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever,And forsake us so long time?
Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned;Renew our days as of old.
{Or, Unless thou…and art &c.}But thou hast utterly rejected us;Thou art very wroth against us.
Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned;Renew our days as of old.
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight:
And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and {Greek: kissed him much. See chapter 7:38, 45.}kissed him.
but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;