American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, {Or, without light}and not in light.
Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.
My flesh and my skin hath he {Or, worn out}made old; he hath broken my bones.
He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.
He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.
He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
He hath caused the {Hebrew: sons.}shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.
I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast {Or, cast off}removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.
And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, {Or, without light}and not in light.
Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.
My flesh and my skin hath he {Or, worn out}made old; he hath broken my bones.
He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.
He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.
He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
He hath caused the {Hebrew: sons.}shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.
I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast {Or, cast off}removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.
And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.
Remember mine affliction and my {Or, wandering}misery, the wormwood and the gall.
My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope.
It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
{Or, he sitteth &c. (so through verse 28-30)}Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him.
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him; let him be filled full with reproach.
For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
For he doth not afflict {Hebrew: from his heart.}willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,
To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord {Hebrew: seeth not.}approveth not.
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good?
Wherefore doth a living man complain, {Or, a man that is in his sins}a man for the punishment of his sins?
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned.
Thou hast {Or, covered thyself}covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
Thou hast made us an offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.
Fear and the pit are come upon us, {Or, tumult}devastation and destruction.
Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven.
Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.
They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause.
They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me.
Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.
I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon.
Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not.
O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause.
Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.
Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me,
The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.
Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands.
Thou wilt give them {Or, blindness Hebrew: covering.}hardness of heart, thy curse unto them.
Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.
And it came to pass that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion {Hebrew: from thence.}there, in the midst of the people.
And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou art falling away to the Chaldeans.
Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
When Jeremiah was come into the {Or, house of the pit}dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. He said also, Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, Wherein have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?
Where now are your prophets that prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, {Hebrew: fall.}be presented before thee, that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spake unto all the people, saying,
Thus saith Jehovah, He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey, and he shall live.
Thus saith Jehovah, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
Then the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you.
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the {Or, pit}dungeon of Malchijah {Or, the son of Hammelech}the king's son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),
Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying,
My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and {Hebrew: he is dead.}he is like to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these rags and worn-out garments under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to deliver thee.
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
He hath led me and caused me to walk in darkness, {Or, without light}and not in light.
Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.
My flesh and my skin hath he {Or, worn out}made old; he hath broken my bones.
He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shutteth out my prayer.
He hath walled up my ways with hewn stone; he hath made my paths crooked.
He is unto me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he hath made me desolate.
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
He hath caused the {Hebrew: sons.}shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins.
I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath sated me with wormwood.
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast {Or, cast off}removed my soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity.
And I said, My strength is perished, and mine expectation from Jehovah.
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass,And hath set darkness in my paths.
Thou hast put mine acquaintance far from me;Thou hast made me an abomination unto them:I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends;For the hand of God hath touched me.
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;My skin {Or, is broken and become loathsome}closeth up, and breaketh out afresh.
Create {Or, for me}in me a clean heart, O God;And renew a {Or, stedfast}right spirit within me.
{Or, I thought until morning, As a lion, o will he break &c.}I quieted myself until morning; as a lion, so he breaketh all my bones:From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Israel is a {Hebrew: scattered.}hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
Mine eye wasteth away by reason of affliction:I have called daily upon thee, O Jehovah;I have spread forth my hands unto thee.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of {Or, poison}gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
Thy wrath lieth hard upon me,And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. [Selah
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul;He hath smitten my life down to the ground:He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
then will I bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make thee to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, {Another reading is, like.}in the places that are desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; {Or, as otherwise read, nor set thy glory &c.}and I will set glory in the land of the living:
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,And whom God hath hedged in?
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me:I stand up, and thou gazest at me.
Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God;For unto thee do I pray.
O Jehovah, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice;In the morning will I order my prayer unto thee, and will keep watch.
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou answerest not;And in the night season, {Or, but find no rest}and am not silent.
But thou art holy,O thou that {Or, art enthroned upon}inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer;They will seek me {Or, early}diligently, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge,And did not choose the fear of Jehovah:
They would none of my counsel;They despised all my reproof.
He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass,And hath set darkness in my paths.
Behold, Jehovah maketh the {Or, land (and so in verse 3, 4, &c.)}earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Therefore am I unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart; and there will I devour them like a lioness; the wild beast shall tear them.
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; {Or, and}or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert;He lieth in wait to catch the poor:He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.
He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey,And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:He hath also set me up for his mark.
His {Or, arrows Or, mighty ones}archers compass me round about;He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up:The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine indignation;Neither is there any {Or, rest}health in my bones because of my sin.
And now I am become their song,Yea, I am a byword unto them.
They reward me evil for good,To the bereaving of my soul.
But in {Hebrew: my limping.}mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:The {Or, smiters}abjects gathered themselves together against me, and {Or, those whom I keep not}I knew it not;They did tear me, and ceased not:
Lord, how long wilt thou look on?Rescue my soul from their destructions,My {Or, dear life Hebrew: only one.}darling from the lions.
They that sit in the gate talk of me;And I am the song of the drunkards.
O Jehovah, thou hast {Or, enticed}persuaded me, and I was persuaded; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me.
For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day.
He will not suffer me to take my breath,But filleth me with bitterness.
but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them;
Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of {Or, poison}gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
In the second month on the fourteenth day {Hebrew: between the two evenings.}at even they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs:
Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man;But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
He hath cast me into the mire,And I am become like dust and ashes.
My soul also is sore troubled:And thou, O Jehovah, how long?
Return, O Jehovah, deliver my soul:Save me for thy lovingkindness' sake.
For in death there is no remembrance of thee:In Sheol who shall give thee thanks?
I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit;I am as a man that hath no help,
For thus saith Jehovah, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith Jehovah, even lovingkindness and tender mercies.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a {Or, broom-tree}juniper-tree: and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Jehovah, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
My soul is weary of my life;I will give free course to my complaint;I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Where then is my hope?And as for my hope, who shall see it?
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.