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NOVEMBER 4
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
25 The LORD is good to those who wait
for Him,
3:8 He shuts out my prayer. God’s non- To the soul who seeks Him.
response to Jeremiah’s prayers was not 26
because Jeremiah was guilty of personal sin It is good that one should hope
(Ps. 66:18); rather, it was due to Israel’s perpet- and wait quietly
ual sin without repentance (Jer. 19:15). God’s For the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear
righteousness to judge that sin must pursue
its course (Jer. 7:16; 11:14). Jeremiah knew The yoke in his youth.
that, yet prayed, wept (vv. 48–51), and longed 28 Let him sit alone and keep silent,
to see repentance.
Because God has laid it on him;
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust—
Like a lion in ambush. There may yet be hope.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn 30 Let him give his cheek to the one who
me in pieces; strikes him,
He has made me desolate. And be full of reproach.
12 He has bent His bow 31
And set me up as a target for the arrow. 32 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
Though He causes grief,
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver Yet He will show compassion
To pierce my loins. According to the multitude of His
14 I have become the ridicule of all my mercies.
people— 33 For He does not afflict willingly,
Their taunting song all the day. Nor grieve the children of men.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, 34
He has made me drink wormwood. To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
16 He has also broken my teeth with 35 To turn aside the justice due a man
gravel, Before the face of the Most High,
And covered me with ashes. 36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
17 You have moved my soul far from The Lord does not approve.
peace; 37
I have forgotten prosperity. Who is he who speaks and it comes
18 And I said, “My strength and my hope to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
Have perished from the LORD.” 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most
19 Remember my affliction and roaming, High
The wormwood and the gall. That woe and well-being proceed?
20 My soul still remembers 39 Why should a living man complain,
And sinks within me. A man for the punishment of his sins?
21 This I recall to my mind, 40
Therefore I have hope. Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the LORD;
22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not 41 Let us lift our hearts and hands
consumed, To God in heaven.
Because His compassions fail not. 42 We have transgressed and rebelled;
23 They are new every morning; You have not pardoned.
Great is Your faithfulness. 43
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a
cloud,
3:22–24 His compassions fail not. As bleak That prayer should not pass through.
as the situation of judgment had become, 45 You have made us an offscouring and
God’s covenant lovingkindness was always refuse
present (vv. 31,32), and His incredible faithful- In the midst of the peoples.
ness always endured so that Judah would not
be destroyed forever (Mal. 3:6). 46 All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.

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