when they prayed: ¹  “Have mercy on me, ²  Lord! See how I am oppressed by those who hate me, ³  O one who can snatch me away ⁴  from the gates of death!

For he did not despise or detest the suffering ¹  of the oppressed; ²  he did not ignore him; ³  when he cried out to him, he responded. ⁴ 

The ropes of death tightened around me, ¹  the snares ²  of Sheol confronted me. I was confronted ³  with trouble and sorrow.

A person with great anger bears the penalty, ¹  but if you deliver him from it once, you will have to do it again. ² 

So a treaty curse ¹  devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. ²  This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, ³  and are reduced to just a handful of people. ⁴ 

They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. ¹  Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.”

Now ¹  a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage ²  for twelve years ³  but could not be healed by anyone.

Then a famine occurred throughout ¹  Egypt and Canaan, causing ²  great suffering, and our ³  ancestors ⁴  could not find food.

The fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves demonstrates that you have already been defeated. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

Now, brothers and sisters, ¹  if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? ²  In that case the offense of the cross ³  has been removed. ⁴ 

Those who want to make a good showing in external matters ¹  are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so ²  only to avoid being persecuted ³  for the cross of Christ.

He was despised and rejected by people, ¹  one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; ²  he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ³ 

“Tell these people this, Jeremiah: ¹  ‘My eyes overflow with tears day and night without ceasing. ²  For my people, my dear children, ³  have suffered a crushing blow. They have suffered a serious wound. ⁴ 

ל (Lamed) Is it nothing to you, ¹  all you who pass by on the road? ²  Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord ³  has afflicted me, ⁴  he ⁵  has inflicted it on me when ⁶  he burned with anger. ⁷ 

“Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer ¹  for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.

So a report about him spread throughout Syria. People ¹  brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those who had seizures, ²  paralytics, and those possessed by demons, ³  and he healed them.

I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, ¹  whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.

For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, ¹  and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly ²  had a better and lasting possession.

“Why does God ²  give ³  light to one who is in misery, ⁴  and life to those ⁵  whose soul is bitter,

Deliver me from my distress; ¹  rescue me from my suffering! ²