Rejoice, young man, while you are young, ¹  and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses ²  of your heart and the desires ³  of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. ⁴ 

Why does no one challenge me when I come? Why does no one respond when I call? ¹  Is my hand too weak ²  to deliver ³  you? Do I lack the power to rescue you? Look, with a mere shout ⁴  I can dry up the sea; I can turn streams into a desert, so the fish rot away and die from lack of water. ⁵ 

In fact, ¹  I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby. It is the cry of Daughter Zion ²  gasping for breath, reaching out for help, ³  saying, “I am done in! ⁴  My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

The mother who had seven children ¹  will grow faint. All the breath will go out of her. ²  Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life. It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day. ³  She will suffer shame and humiliation. ⁴  I will cause any of them who are still left alive to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,” ⁵  says the Lord.

“King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon devoured me and drove my people out. Like a monster from the deep he swallowed me. He filled his belly with my riches. He made me an empty dish. He completely cleaned me out.” ¹ 

ד (Dalet) He prepared his bow ¹  like an enemy; his right hand was ready to shoot. ²  Like a foe he killed everyone, even our strong young men; ³  he has poured out his anger like fire on the tent ⁴  of Daughter Zion.

When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone ¹  will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ ²  Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘Look, I am against ¹  you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster ²  lying in the midst of its waterways, who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” ³ 

They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, ¹  who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, ²  when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.

“All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.

Then Jesus called the ¹  disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry since they may faint on the way.”

I have written to you, children, that ¹  you have known the Father. ²  I have written to you, fathers, that ³  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that ⁴  you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.