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“Praise the Lord!

I will thank the Lord with all my heart I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them. Everything He does reveals His glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember His wonderful works.

How gracious and merciful is our Lord! He gives food to those who fear Him; He always remembers His covenant. He has shown His great power to His people by giving them the lands of other nations. All He does is just and good, and all His commandments are trustworthy.

He has paid a full ransom for His own people. He has guaranteed His covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name He has! Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey His commandments will grown in vision.

Praise Him forever!”

“Let all that I am praise the Lord: with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives my sins and hals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagles’s!

The Lord is gives righteousness and just to all who are treated fairly. He revealed His character to Moses and His deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.” (vv. 1-8, NLT)

“The voice said to me, “Son of man, eat what I am giving you -eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel.’ So I opened my. mouth, and He fed me the scroll. ‘Fill you stomach with this,’ He said. And then when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

Then He said, ‘Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them my messages. I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand. No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen! But the people of Israel won’t listen to you, anymore than they listen to Me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are. I have made your forehead as hard as a rock! So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.’

Then He added, ‘Son of man, let all My words sink in deep into your own heart first. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says! Do this whether they listen or not.’

Then the Spirit lifted me up and I heart a loud rumbling sound behind me. (May the Glory of The Lord be praised in His place!) It was the sound of the wings of the living beings as they brushed against each other and the rumbling of their wheels beneath them.

The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the Lord’s hold on me was strong. Then I came to the colony of Judean exiles in Tel-abib, beside the Kebar River. I was overwhelmed and sat among them for seven days.” (vv. 1-15, NLT)

“”Stand up, son of man,” said the voice. “I want to speak to you. The spirit came into me as He spoke, and He set me on my feet. I listened carefully to His words.”Son of man,” He said,” I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me to this very day. They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But am sending you to say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says! And whether they listen or refuse to listen – for remember, they are rebels – at least they will know they will have had a prophet among them. ‘

“Son of man, do not fear them or their words, Don’t be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed, by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels. You must give t hem my messages whether they listen or not. But they won’t listen for they are completely rebellious.! Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not joint them in their rebellion. Open you mouth and eat what I give you.”

Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me. It held a scroll, which He unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow and pronouncements of doom.”

“Lord, remember what has happened to us. See how we have been disgraced! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed. We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive. Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but given no rest. We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive. Our ancestors sinned, but they have died – and we are suffering for the punishment they deserved! ” (vv. 1-7, NLT)

“But Lord, You remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation. Why do You continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long? Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to You again! Give us back the joys we once had! Or have You utterly rejected us? Are You still angry with us still?” (vv. 19-22, NLT)

“Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? Then why should we, mere humans complain when we are punished for our sins?

Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, ‘We have sinned and rebelled, and You have not forgiven us.'” (vv. 37-42, NLT)

“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful tie, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!’

The Lord is good to those who search for Him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of His discipline:

Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands. Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.” (vv. 19-30, NLT)

“The Lord is right,” Jerusalem says, “for I rebelled against Him. Listen, people everywhere; look upon my anguish and despair, for my sons and daughters have been taken captive to distant lands.

I begged my allies for help, but they betrayed me. My priests and leaders starved to death in the city, even as they searched for food to save their lives.

Lord, see my anguish! My heart is broken and my soul despairs, for I have rebelled against You. In the streets the sword kills, and a thom there is only death.” (vv. 18-20, NLT)

“Come out, my people, flee from Babylon. Save yourselves! Run from the Lord’s fierce anger. But do not panic; don’t be afraid when. you hear the first rumor of approaching forces. For the rumors will keep coming year by year. Violence will erupt in the land as the leaders fight against each other. For the time is surely coming when I will punish this great city and all her idols. Her whole land will be disgraced, and her dead will lie in the streets. Then the heavens will rejoice, for our of the north will come destroying armies against Babylon,” says the Lord.”

“Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel and others throughout the world, so must her people be killed. Get out, all of you who have escaped the sword! Do not stand and watch – flee while you can! Remember the Lord, though you are in a far-off land, and think about your home in Jerusalem.” (vv 45-50, NLT)

“In those coming days,” says the Lord, “the people of Israel will return home together with the people of Judah. They will come weeping and seeking the Lord, their God. The will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the Lord with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.” (vv. 4-5, NLT)