The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday October 29, 2020 (NIV)

^2 (E)She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
^(F)among all her lovers
she has ^(G)none to comfort her;
^(H)all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.

^3 (I)Judah has gone into exile because of affliction^[a]
and hard servitude;
^(J)she dwells now among the nations,
^(K)but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.^[b]

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to ^(L)the festival;
^(M)all her gates are desolate;
her priests ^(N)groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,^[c]
and she herself suffers bitterly.

^5 (O)Her foes have become the head;
her ^(P)enemies prosper,
because ^(Q)the Lord has afflicted her
^(R)for the multitude of her transgressions;
^(S)her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.

⁶ From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
^(T)that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.

⁷ Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
^(U)all the precious things
that were hers from ^(V)days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they ^(W)mocked at her downfall.

^8 (X)Jerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
^(Y)for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^(Z)groans
and turns her face away.

⁹ Her uncleanness was ^(AA)in her skirts;
^(AB)she took no thought of her future;^[d]
therefore her fall is terrible;
^(AC)she has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has ^(AD)triumphed!”

¹⁰ The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her ^(AE)precious things;
for she has seen ^(AF)the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you ^(AG)forbade
to enter your congregation.

¹¹ All her people ^(AH)groan
as ^(AI)they search for bread;
they trade their ^(AJ)treasures for ^(AK)food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”

¹² “Is it nothing to you, all ^(AL)you who pass by?
^(AM)Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which ^(AN)the Lord inflicted
on ^(AO)the day of his fierce anger.

¹³ “From on high he ^(AP)sent fire;
into my bones^[e] he made it descend;
^(AQ)he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
^(AR)he has left me stunned,
faint all the day long.

¹⁴ “My transgressions were bound^[f] into ^(AS)a yoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they were set upon my neck;
he caused my strength to fail;
the Lord gave me into the hands
of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁵ “The Lord rejected
all my mighty men in my midst;
he summoned an assembly against me
to crush my young men;
^(AT)the Lord has trodden as in a winepress
the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶ “For these things ^(AU)I weep;
my eyes flow with tears;
for ^(AV)a comforter is far from me,
one to ^(AW)revive my spirit;
my children are desolate,
for the enemy has prevailed.”

^17 (AX)Zion stretches out her hands,
but ^(AY)there is none to comfort her;
the Lord has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.

^18 (AZ)“The Lord is in the right,
^(BA)for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
^(BB)my young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.

¹⁹ “I called to ^(BC)my lovers,
but they deceived me;
my priests and elders
perished in the city,
while ^(BD)they sought food
to revive their strength.

²⁰ “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
^(BE)my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
^(BF)In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.

²¹ “They heard^{[g] (BG)}my groaning,
yet ^(BH)there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
^(BI)they are glad that you have done it.
You have brought^[h] the day you announced;
^(BJ)now let them be as I am.

^22 (BK)“Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as ^(BL)you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions;
for ^(BM)my groans are many,
and ^(BN)my heart is faint.”

² The Lord ^(BR)has swallowed up ^(BS)without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^(BT)he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^(BU)down to the ground ^(BV)in dishonor
the kingdom ^(BW)and its rulers.

³ He has cut down in ^(BX)fierce anger
all ^(BY)the might of Israel;
^(BZ)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
^(CA)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.

^4 (CB)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set ^(CC)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

^5 (CD)The Lord has become like an enemy;
^(CE)he has swallowed up Israel;
^(CF)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
^(CG)mourning and lamentation.

⁶ He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins ^(CH)his meeting place;
^(CI)the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and ^(CJ)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

^7 (CK)The Lord has scorned his altar,
^(CL)disowned his sanctuary;
^(CM)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
^(CN)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.

^8 (CO)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
^(CP)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
^(CQ)he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^(CR)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
^(CS)they languished together.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground;
^(CT)he has ruined ^(CU)and broken her bars;
^(CV)her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and ^(CW)her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of the daughter of Zion
^(CX)sit on the ground ^(CY)in silence;
^(CZ)they have thrown dust on their heads
and ^(DA)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.

^11 (DB)My eyes are spent with weeping;
^(DC)my stomach churns;
^(DD)my bile is poured out to the ground
^(DE)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^(DF)because infants and babies ^(DG)faint
in the streets of the city.

¹² They cry to their mothers,
^(DH)“Where is bread and wine?”
^(DI)as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers' bosom.

¹³ What can I say for you, ^(DJ)to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
^(DK)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
^(DL)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?

^14 (DM)Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
^(DN)they have not exposed your iniquity
to ^(DO)restore your fortunes,
^(DP)but have seen for you ^(DQ)oracles
that are false and misleading.

¹⁵ All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
^(DR)they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
^(DS)the perfection of beauty,
^(DT)the joy of all the earth?”

^16 (DU)All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We ^(DV)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; ^(DW)we see it!”

¹⁷ The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out ^(DX)his word,
which he commanded ^(DY)long ago;
^(DZ)he has thrown down ^(EA)without pity;
^(EB)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the ^(EC)might of your foes.

¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord.
O ^(ED)wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(EE)let tears stream down like a torrent
^(EF)day and night!
^(EG)Give yourself no rest,
^(EH)your eyes no respite!

¹⁹ “Arise, ^(EI)cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
^(EJ)Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
^(EK)Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
^(EL)who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”

²⁰ Look, O Lord, and see!
^(EM)With whom have you dealt thus?
^(EN)Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of ^(EO)their tender care?
Should ^(EP)priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ In the dust of the streets
^(EQ)lie the young and the old;
^(ER)my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
^(ES)you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering ^(ET)without pity.

²² You summoned as if to ^(EU)a festival day
^(EV)my terrors on every side,
^(EW)and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
^(EX)those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.

⁵ Whoever slanders his neighbor ^(K)secretly
I will ^(L)destroy.
Whoever has a ^(M)haughty look and an ^(N)arrogant heart
I will not endure.

⁶ I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he who walks in ^(O)the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.

⁷ No one who ^(P)practices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall ^(Q)continue before my eyes.

^8 (R)Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
^(S)cutting off all ^(T)the evildoers
from ^(U)the city of the Lord.