The Lord is near the broken-hearted he is the saviour of those whose spirits are crushed down. Psalm 34.18
Daily reading in version Bible In Basic English - English


Lamentations 3
Lamentations 4
Lamentations 5
John 18.1-27

Lamentations 3


1
I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath.
2
By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light.
3
Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day.
4
My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken.
5
He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow.
6
He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead.
7
He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out he has made great the weight of my chain.
8
Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out.
9
He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted.
10
He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places.
11
By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits he has made me waste.
12
With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows.
13
He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body.
14
I have become the sport of all the peoples I am their song all the day.
15
He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure.
16
By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust.
17
My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good.
18
And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord.
19
Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.
20
My soul still keeps the memory of them and is bent down in me.
21
This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope.
22
It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit.
23
They are new every morning great is your good faith.
24
I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage and because of this I will have hope in him.
25
The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him.
26
It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
27
It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young.
28
Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him.
29
Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.
30
Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows let him be full of shame.
31
For the Lord does not give a man up for ever.
32
For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.
33
For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
34
In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35
In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High.
36
In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure.
37
Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord?
38
Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
39
What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?
40
Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord
41
Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
42
We have done wrong and gone against your law we have not had your forgiveness.
43
Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity
44
Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through.
45
You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples.
46
The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us.
47
Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction.
48
Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49
My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,
50
Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven.
51
The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town.
52
They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird
53
They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones.
54
Waters were flowing over my head I said, I am cut off.
55
I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.
56
My voice came to you let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry.
57
You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear.
58
O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe.
59
O Lord, you have seen my wrong be judge in my cause.
60
You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.
61
Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me
62
The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day.
63
Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up I am their song.
64
You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands.
65
You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them.
66
You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.

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Lamentations 4


1
How dark has the gold become! how changed the best gold! the stones of the holy place are dropping out at the top of every street.
2
The valued sons of Zion, whose price was the best gold, are looked on as vessels of earth, the work of the hands of the potter!
3
Even the beasts of the waste land have full breasts, they give milk to their young ones: the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the waste land.
4
The tongue of the child at the breast is fixed to the roof of his mouth for need of drink: the young children are crying out for bread, and no man gives it to them.
5
Those who were used to feasting on delicate food are wasted in the streets: those who as children were dressed in purple are stretched out on the dust.
6
For the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overturned suddenly without any hand falling on her.
7
Her holy ones were cleaner than snow, they were whiter than milk, their bodies were redder than corals, their form was as the sapphire:
8
Their face is blacker than night in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood.
9
Those who have been put to the sword are better off than those whose death is caused by need of food for these come to death slowly, burned up like the fruit of the field.
10
The hands of kind-hearted women have been boiling their children they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11
The Lord has given full effect to his passion, he has let loose his burning wrath he has made a fire in Zion, causing the destruction of its bases.
12
To the kings of the earth and to all the people of the world it did not seem possible that the attackers and the haters would go into the doors of Jerusalem.
13
It is because of the sins of her prophets and the evil-doing of her priests, by whom the blood of the upright has been drained out in her.
14
They are wandering like blind men in the streets, they are made unclean with blood, so that their robes may not be touched by men.
15
Away! unclean! they were crying out to them, Away! away! let there be no touching: when they went away in flight and wandering, men said among the nations, There is no further resting-place for them.
16
The face of the Lord has sent them in all directions he will no longer take care of them: they had no respect for the priests, they gave no honour to the old men.
17
Our eyes are still wasting away in looking for our false help: we have been watching for a nation unable to give salvation.
18
They go after our steps so that we may not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are numbered for our end has come.
19
Those who went after us were quicker than the eagles of the heaven, driving us before them on the mountains, waiting secretly for us in the waste land.
20
Our breath of life, he on whom the holy oil was put, was taken in their holes of whom we said, Under his shade we will be living among the nations.
21
Have joy and be glad, O daughter of Edom, living in the land of Uz: the cup will be given to you in your turn, and you will be overcome with wine and your shame will be seen.
22
The punishment of your evil-doing is complete, O daughter of Zion never again will he take you away as a prisoner: he will give you the reward of your evil-doing, O daughter of Edom he will let your sin be uncovered.

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Lamentations 5


1
Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.
2
Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
3
We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.
4
We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
5
Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.
6
We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.
7
Our fathers were sinners and are dead and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
8
Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.
9
We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
10
Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.
11
They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.
12
Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.
13
The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.
14
The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.
15
The joy of our hearts is ended our dancing is changed into sorrow.
16
The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
17
Because of this our hearts are feeble for these things our eyes are dark
18
Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste jackals go over it.
19
You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever the seat of your power is eternal.
20
Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long?
21
Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned make our days new again as in the past.
22
But you have quite given us up you are full of wrath against us.

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John 18

1-27
1
When Jesus had said these words he went out with his disciples over the stream Kedron to a garden, into which he went with his disciples.
2
And Judas, who was false to him, had knowledge of the place because Jesus went there frequently with his disciples.
3
So Judas, getting a band of armed men and police from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lights and with arms.
4
Then Jesus, having knowledge of everything which was coming on him, went forward and said to them, Who are you looking for?
5
Their answer was, Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus said, I am he. And Judas, who was false to him, was there at their side.
6
And when he said to them, I am he, they went back, falling to the earth.
7
So again he put the question to them, Who are you looking for? And they said, Jesus the Nazarene.
8
Jesus made answer, I have said that I am he if you are looking for me, let these men go away.
9
(He said this so that his words might come true, I have kept safe all those whom you gave to me.)
10
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, took it out and gave the high priest's servant a blow, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
11
Then Jesus said to Peter, Put back your sword: am I not to take the cup which my Father has given to me?
12
Then the band and the chief captain and the police took Jesus and put cords round him.
13
They took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was the high priest that year.
14
It was Caiaphas who had said to the Jews that it was in their interest for one man to be put to death for the people.
15
And Simon Peter went after Jesus with another disciple. Now that disciple was a friend of the high priest and he went in with Jesus into the house of the high priest
16
But Peter was kept outside at the door. Then this other disciple, who was a friend of the high priest, came out and had a word with the girl who kept the door, and took Peter in.
17
Then the girl who was the door-keeper said to Peter, Are you not one of this man's disciples? In answer he said, I am not.
18
Now the servants and the police had made a fire of coals because it was cold they were warming themselves in front of it and Peter was there with them, warming himself.
19
Then the high priest put questions to Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
20
Jesus made answer, I said things openly to the world at all times I have given my teaching in the Synagogues and in the Temple to which all the Jews come and I have said nothing secretly.
21
Why are you questioning me? put questions to my hearers about what I have said to them: they have knowledge of what I said.
22
When he said this, one of the police by his side gave him a blow with his open hand, saying, Do you give such an answer to the high priest?
23
Jesus said in answer, If I have said anything evil, give witness to the evil: but if I said what is true, why do you give me blows?
24
Then Annas sent him chained to Caiaphas, the high priest.
25
But Simon Peter was still there warming himself by the fire. They said to him, Are you not one of his disciples? He said, No, I am not.
26
One of the servants of the high priest, a relation of him whose ear had been cut off by Peter, said, Did I not see you with him in the garden?
27
Then again Peter said, No. And straight away a cock gave its cry.

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