But if you will not pay attention to this warning, ¹  I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride. I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears ²  because you, the Lord’s flock, ³  will be carried ⁴  into exile.”

“I will pour out on the kingship ¹  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ²  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ³ 

“As surely as God lives, ¹  who has denied me justice, ²  the Almighty, who has made my life bitter ³  –

So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, ¹  say. ²  ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ³ 

So ¹  I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it did taste ²  as sweet as honey in my mouth, but ³  when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.

David was very upset, for the men ¹  were thinking of stoning him; ²  each man grieved bitterly ³  over his sons and daughters. But David drew strength from the Lord his God.

“Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²  and how I have carried out your will.” ³  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ 

“Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²  and how I have carried out your will.” ³  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ 

The Lord says, “A sound is heard in Ramah, ¹  a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone.” ² 

Then the priest will have the woman stand before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the grain offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of suspicion. The priest will hold in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹ 

for they aroused ¹  his temper, ²  and he spoke rashly. ³ 

Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, “If no other ¹  man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. ² 

While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him. The people wept loudly. ¹ 

“Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ¹  You delivered me ²  from the pit of oblivion. ³  For you removed all my sins from your sight. ⁴ 

ב (Bet) She weeps bitterly at night; tears stream down her cheeks. ¹  She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. ²  All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; ¹  I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.

‘Call judgment down on ¹  Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic ²  messenger; ‘Be sure ³  to call judgment down on ⁴  those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, ⁵  to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ ⁶ 

What can I say? He has decreed and acted. ¹  I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. ² 

When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness – her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. ¹  Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful ²  it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, ³  to show no respect for me,” ⁴  says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁵