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This file was generated by Descript 

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Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.

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Day two hundred and 91.

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I am the one who has seen the
afflictions that come from

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the rod of the Lord's anger.

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He has led me into darkness,
shutting out all light.

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He has turned his hand against
me again and again All day long.

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He has made my skin and flesh grow old.

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He has broken my bones.

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He has besieged and surrounded
me with anguish and distress.

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He has buried me in a dark
place like those long dead.

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He has walled me in and I cannot escape.

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He has bound me in heavy chains
and though I cry and shout,

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he has shut out my prayers.

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He has blocked my way
with a high stone wall.

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He has made my road crooked.

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He has hidden like a bear or
a lion waiting to attack me.

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He has dragged me off the path
and torn me in pieces, leaving

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me helpless and devastated.

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He has drawn his bow and made
me the target for his arrows.

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He shot his arrows deep into my heart.

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My own people laugh at me all day long.

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They sing their mocking songs.

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He has filled me with bitterness and
given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.

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He has made me chew on gravel.

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He has rolled me in the dust.

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Peace has been stripped away, and I
have forgotten what prosperity is.

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I cry out.

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My splendor is gone.

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Everything I'd hoped for
from the Lord is lost.

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The thought of my suffering and
homelessness is bitter beyond words.

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I will never forget this awful
time as I grieve over my loss,

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yet I still dare to hope.

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When I remember this, the faithful
love of the Lord never ends.

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His mercies never cease.

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Great is his faithfulness,
his mercies begin afresh.

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Each morning I say to myself,
the Lord is my inheritance.

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Therefore, I will hope in him.

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The Lord is good to those who depend
on him, to those who search for him.

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So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.

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And it is good for people to submit at an
early age to the yoke of his discipline.

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Let them sit alone in silence
beneath the Lord's demands.

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Let them lie face down in the
dust for there may be hope.

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At last, let them turn the other
cheek to those who strike them and

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accept the insults of their enemies.

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For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.

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Though he brings grief, he also shows
compassion because of the greatness of

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his unfailing love for he does not enjoy
hurting people or causing them sorrow.

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If people crush underfoot, all
the prisoners of the land, if they

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deprive others of their rights in
defiance of the most high, if they

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twist justice in the courts, doesn't
the Lord see all these things?

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Who can command things to happen
without the Lord's permission?

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Does not the most high,
send both calamity and good.

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Then why should we mere humans complain
when we are punished for our sins?

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Instead, let us test and examine our ways.

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Let us turn back to the Lord.

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Let us lift our hearts and hands to God
in heaven and say we have sinned and

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rebelled, and you have not forgiven us.

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You have engulfed us with your anger,
chased us down and slaughtered us.

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Without mercy, you have hidden yourself in
a cloud, so our prayers cannot reach you.

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You have discarded us as refuse
and garbage among the nations.

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All our enemies have
spoken out against us.

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We are filled with fear for we are
trapped, devastated, and ruined.

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Tears stream from my eyes because
of the destruction of my people.

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My tears flow endlessly.

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They will not stop until the Lord
looks down from heaven and sees

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my heart is breaking over the fate
of all the women of Jerusalem.

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My enemies, whom I have never
harmed, hunted me down like a bird.

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They threw me into a pit
and dropped stones on me.

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The water rose over my
head and I cried out.

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This is the end.

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But I called on your name,
Lord, from deep within the pit.

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You heard me when I cried.

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Listen to my pleading,
hear my cry for help.

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Yes, you came when I called,
you told me do not fear Lord.

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You have come to my defense.

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You have redeemed my life.

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You have seen the wrong
they have done to me.

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Lord, be my judge and prove me right.

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You have seen the vengeful plots.

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My enemies have laid against me, Lord.

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You have heard the vile names.

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They call me.

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You know all about the plans.

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They have made my enemies
whisper and mutter as they

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plot against me all day long.

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Look at them, whether they sit or stand.

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I am the object of their mocking songs.

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Pay them back, Lord.

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For all the evil they have done.

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Give them hard and stubborn hearts,
and then let your curse fall on them.

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Chase them down in your anger, destroying
them beneath the lord's heavens.

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How the gold has lost its luster,
even the finest gold has become dull.

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The sacred gemstones lie
scattered in the streets.

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See how the precious children of
Jerusalem worth their weight in

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fine gold are now treated like pots
of clay made by a common potter.

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Even the jackals feed their
young, but not my people.

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Israel, they ignore their children's
cries like ostriches in the desert.

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The parch tongues of their
little ones stick to the roofs

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of their mouths in thirst.

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The children cry for bread, but
no one has any to give them.

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The people who once ate the
richest foods now beg in the

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streets for anything they can get.

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Those who once wore the finest clothes,
now search the garbage dumps for food.

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The guilt of my people is greater than
that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck

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in a moment and no hand offered help.

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Our princes once glowed with health
brighter than snow, whiter than milk.

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Their faces were as ruddy as rubies,
their appearance like fine jewels, but

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now their faces are blacker than soot.

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No one recognizes them in the streets.

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Their skin sticks to their bones.

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It is as dry and hard as wood.

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Those killed by the sword are better off
than those who die of hunger, starving.

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They waste away for lack
of food from the fields.

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Tenderhearted women.

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Have cooked their own children.

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They have eaten them to survive
the siege, but now the anger

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of the Lord is satisfied.

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His fierce anger has been poured out.

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He started a fire in Jerusalem that
burned the city to its foundations.

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Not a king in all the earth.

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No one in all the world would've
believed that an enemy could march

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through the gates of Jerusalem.

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Yet it happened because of the sins
of her prophets and the sins of her

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priests who defiled the city by shedding
innocent blood, they wandered blindly

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through the streets, so defiled by
blood that no one dared touch them.

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Get away.

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The people shouted at them,
you're defiled, don't touch us.

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So they fled to distant lands and
wandered among foreign nations,

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but none would let them stay.

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The Lord himself has scattered
them and he no longer helps them.

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People show no respect for the priests
and no longer honor the leaders.

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We look in vain for our allies to
come and save us, but we were looking

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to nations that could not help us.

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We couldn't go into the streets
without danger to our lives.

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Our end was near.

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Our days were numbered.

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We were doomed.

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Our enemies were swifter
than Eagles in flight.

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If we fled to the
mountains, they found us.

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If we hid in the wilderness,
they were waiting for us there.

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Our king, the Lord's anointed,
the very life of our nation

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was caught in their snares.

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We had thought that his shadow would
protect us against any nation on earth.

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Are you rejoicing in the land of us?

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Oh, people of Edem.

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But you too must drink from
the cup of the Lord's anger.

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You too will be stripped
naked in your drunkenness.

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Oh, beautiful.

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Jerusalem.

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Your punishment will end.

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You will soon return from exile.

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But Edam, your punishment
is just beginning soon.

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Your many sins will be exposed.

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Lord, remember what has happened to us.

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See how we have been disgraced.

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Our inheritance has been turned over
to strangers, our homes to foreigners.

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We are orphaned and fatherless.

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Our mothers are widowed.

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We have to pay for water to drink,
and even firewood is expensive.

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Those who pursue us are at our heels.

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We are exhausted but are given no rest.

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We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough food to survive.

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Our ancestors sinned, but they have died.

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We are suffering the
punishment they deserved.

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Slaves have now become our masters.

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There is no one left to rescue us.

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We hunt for food at the risk of
our lives for violence rules.

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The countryside, the famine has blackened
our skin as though baked in an oven.

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Our enemies rape the women in
Jerusalem and the young girls

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in all the towns of Judah.

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Our princes are being hanged
by their thumbs, and our elders

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are treated with contempt.

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Young men are led away to work
at Millstones and boys stagger

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under heavy loads of wood.

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The elders no longer
sit in the city gates.

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The young men no longer dance and sing.

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Joy has left our hearts.

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Our dancing has turned to mourning.

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The garlands have fallen from our heads.

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Weep for us because we have sinned.

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Our hearts are sick and weary,
and our eyes grow dim with tears.

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For Jerusalem is empty and desolate.

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A place haunted by jackals.

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But Lord, you remain the same for forever.

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Your throne continues from
generation to generation.

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Why do you continue to forget us?

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Why have you abandoned us for so long?

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Restore us Oh Lord.

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And bring us back to you again.

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Give us back the joys we once had,
or have you utterly rejected us.

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Are you angry with us still?

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This concludes today's
immerse reading experience.

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Thank you for joining us.