So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness ¹  will be many – all that is about to come is obscure. ² 

At that time they will say, ¹  “Look, here ²  is our God! We waited for him and he delivered us. Here ³  is the Lord! We waited for him. Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”

For this reason the Lord is ready to show you mercy; he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you. ¹  Indeed, the Lord is a just God; all who wait for him in faith will be blessed. ² 

This is what the Lord says, your protector, ¹  the Holy One of Israel: ²  “For your sake I send to Babylon and make them all fugitives, ³  turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ⁴ 

And now, what do we have here?” ¹  says the Lord. “Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing, those who rule over them taunt,” ²  says the Lord, “and my name is constantly slandered ³  all day long.

Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ¹  Why spend ²  your hard-earned money ³  on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully ⁴  to me and eat what is nourishing! ⁵  Enjoy fine food! ⁶ 

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: “Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry! Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty! Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ¹  or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ²  for my people will live as long as trees, ³  and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ⁴ 

When you see this, you will be happy, ¹  and you will be revived. ²  The Lord will reveal his power to his servants and his anger to his enemies. ³ 

The Lord says to the people of Judah, ¹  “What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? ²  Many of you have done wicked things. ³  Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings ⁴  that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them? ⁵ 

I said, ¹  “Lord, you know how I suffer. ²  Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.

ש (Sin/Shin) Rejoice and be glad for now, ¹  O people of Edom, ²  who reside in the land of Uz. But the cup of judgment ³  will pass ⁴  to you also; you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

The Lord God appointed ¹  a little plant ²  and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue ³  him from his misery. ⁴  Now Jonah was very delighted ⁵  about the little plant.

If a lying windbag should come and say, ¹  ‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ ²  he would be just the right preacher for these people! ³ 

For who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes ¹  will joyfully look on the tin tablet ²  in Zerubbabel’s hand. (These are the eyes of the Lord, which constantly range across the whole earth.)

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king is coming to you: he is legitimate ¹  and victorious, ²  humble and riding on a donkey ³  – on a young donkey, the foal of a female donkey.

At that time Jesus said, ¹  “I praise ²  you, Father, Lord ³  of heaven and earth, because ⁴  you have hidden these things from the wise ⁵  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

“Blessed are you when people ¹  hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil ²  on account of the Son of Man!

I have great joy in the Lord because now at last you have again expressed your concern for me. (Now I know you were concerned before but had no opportunity to do anything.) ¹ 

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.