Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures

9“I charge you: Be strong and resolute; do not be terrified or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

16Then justice shall abide in the wilderness And righteousness shall dwell on the farm land. 17For the work of righteousness shall be peace, And the effect of righteousness, calm and confidence forever.

8Let me exult and rejoice in Your faithfulness when You notice my affliction, are mindful of my deep distress, 9and do not hand me over to my enemy, but a-grant me relief.-a 10Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes are wasted by vexation, b-my substance and body too.-b 11My life is spent in sorrow, my years in groaning; my strength fails because of my iniquity, my limbs waste away. 12Because of all my foes I am the particular butt of my neighbors, a horror to my friends; those who see me on the street avoid me. 13I am put out of mind like the dead; I am like an object given up for lost. 14I hear the whisperings of many,

The Heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool. Where is the House that you may build for Me?

10(Hailg the just man, for he shall fare well; He shall eat the fruit of his works. 11Woe to the wicked man, for he shall fare ill; As his hands have dealt, so shall it be done to him.)

It is for my good that I was afflicted, so that I might learn Your statutes. [...] Had Your Torah not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Why are you distressed, And why is your face fallen? 7cSurely, if you do right, There is uplift. But if you do not do right Sin couches at the door; Its urge is toward you, Yet you can be its master.

11Malicious witnesses appear who question me about things I do not know. 12They repay me evil for good, [seeking] my bereavement. 13Yet, when they were ill, my dress was sackcloth, I kept a fast— b-may what I prayed for happen to me!-b 14I walked about as though it were my friend or my brother; I was bowed with gloom, like one mourning for his mother. 15But when I stumble, they gleefully gather; wretches gather against me, I know not why; c-they tear at me without end.

As he was going up the road, some little boys came out of the town and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” 24He turned around and looked at them and cursed them in the name of the LORD. Thereupon, two she-bears came out of the woods and mangled forty-two of the children.

I am not a man of words, not yesterday, not the day before, not from the first time You spoke to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.

Remove Your affliction from me; I am devastated by the attack of Your hand. In reproach for sin You chastened man; like a moth, You wore away that which is precious to him. All mankind is nothing but futility, forever. Hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to my cry; do not be silent to my tears, for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner like all my forefathers. Turn from me, that I may recover my strength, before I depart and I am no more.

The Torah of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making wise the simpleton.