1The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD. 2All a man’s ways are pure in his own eyes, but his motives are weighed out by the LORD. 3Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be achieved. 4The LORD has made everything for His purpose— even the wicked for the day of disaster. 5Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured that he will not go unpunished. 6By loving devotion and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns aside from evil. 7When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him. 8Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice. 9A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. 10A divine verdict is on the lips of a king; his mouth must not betray justice. 11Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern. 12Wicked behavior is detestable to kings, for a throne is established through righteousness. 13Righteous lips are a king’s delight, and he who speaks honestly is beloved.
New Testament·Hebrews 3
1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later. 6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast. 7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice, 8do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness, 9where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works. 10Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’ 11So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” 12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. 13But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first. 15As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.” 16For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? 19So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.
Old Testament·Lamentations 3:29–4:22
29Let him bury his face in the dust— perhaps there is still hope. 30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach. 31For the Lord will not cast us off forever. 32Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion. 33For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men. 34To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land, 35to deny a man justice before the Most High, 36to subvert a man in his lawsuit— of these the Lord does not approve. 37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? 38Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High? 39Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins? 40Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD. 41Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: 42“We have sinned and rebelled; You have not forgiven.” 43You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity. 44You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through. 45You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. 46All our enemies open their mouths against us. 47Panic and pitfall have come upon us— devastation and destruction. 48Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief, 50until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. 51My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city. 52Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird. 53They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me. 54The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die. 55I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit. 56You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.” 57You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.” 58You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life. 59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause! 60You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me. 61O LORD, You have heard their insults, all their plots against me— 62the slander and murmuring of my assailants against me all day long. 63When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song. 64You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. 65Put a veil of anguish over their hearts; may Your curse be upon them! 66You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
4How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner. 2How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands! 3Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness. 4The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any. 5Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps. 6The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand turned to help her. 7Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires. 8But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick. 9Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce. 10The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations. 12The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem. 13But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst. 14They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments. 15“Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.” 16The presence of the LORD has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are shown no honor; the elders find no favor. 17All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us. 18They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come! 19Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness. 20The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.” 21So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself. 22O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete; He will not prolong your exile. But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.