What the Bible Says About the Meaning of Disaster

Scripture

⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
⁶ And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
⁷ So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
⁹ These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
¹⁰ These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
¹² And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
¹³ And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.
¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
¹⁶ Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
¹⁷ For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
²⁰ Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.
²¹ And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself, and it shall be food for you and for them.
²² Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 6:5-22

Exodus 7:14-25: ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.
¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.
¹⁶ And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed.
¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.
¹⁸ The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”
¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
²⁰ Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
²¹ And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
²³ But Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.
²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
²⁵ Seven full days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

Deuteronomy 28:15-68: ¹⁵ “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”
¹⁶ Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
²⁰ “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
²¹ The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
²² The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.
²³ And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.
²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
²⁵ “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
²⁶ Your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.
²⁷ The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.
²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind,
²⁹ and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.
³⁰ You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her.
³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you.
³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.
³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually,
³⁴ So you shall be driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.
³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
³⁶ “The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone.”
³⁷ And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.
³⁸ “You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.”
³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.
⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off.
⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
⁴² The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.
⁴³ The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
⁴⁴ “He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.”
⁴⁵ “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.”
⁴⁶ They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever.
⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,
⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,
⁵⁰ a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young.
⁵¹ It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
⁵² “They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you.”
⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
⁵⁴ The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,
⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.
⁵⁶ The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son and her daughter,
⁵⁷ her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,”
⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.
⁶⁰ He will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
⁶¹ Also every sickness and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.
⁶² Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
⁶³ And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.
⁶⁴ “And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”
⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.
⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.
⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.
⁶⁸ And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

2 Samuel 24:10-17: ¹⁰ But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
¹¹ For when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
¹² “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”
¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
¹⁵ So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.
¹⁶ And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

1 Kings 17:1-24: ¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
² And the word of the Lord came to him:
³ “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.”
⁴ You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.
⁶ And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
⁷ And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him,
⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”
¹¹ And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
¹² And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
¹³ And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.
¹⁴ For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’”
¹⁵ She went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.
¹⁶ The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
¹⁷ After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
¹⁸ And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”
¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed.
²⁰ Then he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”
²¹ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”
²² And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
²³ And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”
²⁴ And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

2 Kings 6:24-33: ²⁴ Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.
²⁵ And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
²⁶ Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
²⁷ And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?”
²⁸ And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”
³⁰ When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body.
³¹ Then he said, “God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”
³² Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
³³ And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and the king said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Job 1:13-22: ¹³ Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
¹⁴ and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
¹⁵ and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
¹⁶ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
¹⁷ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
¹⁸ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
¹⁹ Behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
²⁰ Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
²¹ And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
²² In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Psalm 91:1-16: ¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—
¹⁰ No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
¹⁴ Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Isaiah 24:1-23: ¹ Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
² And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
³ The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the Lord has spoken this word.
⁴ The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers;
the highest people of the earth languish.
⁵ The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
⁷ The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸ The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
⁹ No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The wasted city is broken down;
every house is shut up so that none can enter.
¹¹ There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.
¹² In the city is left desolation,
and the gate is battered into ruins.
¹³ For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
¹⁴ They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.
¹⁵ Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.
¹⁷ Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
¹⁸ He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
¹⁹ The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰ The earth staggers like a drunken man;
it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it,
and it falls, and will not rise again.
²¹ On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
²² They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.
²³ Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed,
for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and his glory will be before his elders.

Jeremiah 18:1-17: ¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
² “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”
³ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was working at his wheel.
⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me:
⁶ “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
⁷ If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,
⁸ if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
⁹ And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,
¹⁰ if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
¹¹ Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’
¹² “But they say, ‘It is in vain; we will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
¹³ “Therefore thus says the Lord: Ask among the nations, who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing.”
¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?
¹⁵ But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,
¹⁶ making their land a horror,
a thing to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who passes by it is horrified
and shakes his head.
¹⁷ Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity.

Lamentations 3:1-66: ¹ I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
² He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
³ Surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day.
⁴ He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones;
⁵ He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
⁶ He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
⁷ He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy.
⁸ though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
⁹ He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.
¹⁰ He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
¹¹ He turned to me his hand all the day.
¹² He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
¹³ He pierced my kidneys with his arrows;
¹⁴ I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
the object of their taunts all day long.
¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.
¹⁶ He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
¹⁷ my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
¹⁸ so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷ It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
³⁰ let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
³¹ For the Lord will not cast off forever,
³² Though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
³³ for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
³⁴ To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
³⁵ to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,
³⁶ to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.
³⁷ Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
³⁹ Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.
⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
⁴² “We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
⁴³ “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;”
⁴⁴ “You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.”
⁴⁵ “You have made us scum and garbage
among the peoples.”
⁴⁶ “All our enemies open their mouths against us;”
⁴⁷ “Panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction;”
⁴⁸ my eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
⁴⁹ “My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,”
⁵⁰ till the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.
⁵¹ My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
⁵² “They chased me like a bird, those who were my enemies without cause;
⁵³ They flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;
⁵⁴ water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’
⁵⁵ “I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit;”
⁵⁶ You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
⁵⁷ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’
⁵⁸ “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.”
⁵⁹ You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.
⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
⁶¹ “You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.”
⁶² the lips of my assailants and their whispering against me all the day.
⁶³ Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.
⁶⁴ You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵ You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.
⁶⁶ You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Lord.

Ezekiel 14:12-23: ¹² And the word of the Lord came to me:
¹³ “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast,”
¹⁴ even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.
¹⁵ “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts,”
¹⁶ even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.
¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast,
¹⁸ Though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.
¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast,
²⁰ even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.
²¹ “For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!”
²² But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.
²³ And they shall console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.”

Joel 1:1-20: ¹ The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel:
² Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
³ Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
⁴ What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
⁵ Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
⁶ For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
⁷ He has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; he has stripped it bare and cast it away; its branches are made white.
⁸ Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.
⁹ The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.
¹⁰ The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes.
¹¹ Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
¹² The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man.
¹³ Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
¹⁴ Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
¹⁵ Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
¹⁶ Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
¹⁷ The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up.
¹⁸ How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.
¹⁹ To you, O Lord, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.
²⁰ Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Amos 4:6-13: ⁶ “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.
⁷ “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither;”
⁸ So two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.
⁹ “I struck you with blight and mildew;
your many gardens and your vineyards,
your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured;
yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
¹⁰ “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.
¹¹ “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.
¹² “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
¹³ For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

Jonah 1:1-17: ¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
³ But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
⁴ But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.
⁵ Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
⁶ So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
⁷ And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
⁹ And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
¹⁰ Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” for the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
¹⁴ Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”
¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
¹⁷ And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Matthew 24:3-14: ³ As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
⁴ And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
⁸ All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”
¹⁰ And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Mark 13:1-13: ¹ And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
³ And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.
⁶ Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.
⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.
⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
⁹ “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.
¹⁰ And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
¹¹ And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
¹² And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.
¹³ And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Luke 21:5-19: ⁵ And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said,
⁶ “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
⁷ And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”
⁸ And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.
⁹ And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.
¹⁰ Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
¹² But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
¹³ This will be your opportunity to bear witness.
¹⁴ Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer,
¹⁵ for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.
¹⁶ You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.
¹⁷ You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.
¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish.
¹⁹ By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Acts 27:13-44: ¹³ Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore.
¹⁴ But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land.
¹⁵ And setting sail from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.
¹⁶ Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat.
¹⁷ After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along.
¹⁸ Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo.
¹⁹ On the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.
²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
²¹ Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.
²² Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
²³ For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,
²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
²⁵ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.
²⁶ But we must run aground on some island.”
²⁷ When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.
²⁸ So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms.
²⁹ Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.
³⁰ Then the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow,
³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.
³³ As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing.
³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.”
³⁵ And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.
³⁶ Then they were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.
³⁷ All together there were 276 of us on board.
³⁸ And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
³⁹ Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.
⁴⁰ So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach.
⁴¹ But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf.
⁴² The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape.
⁴³ But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land,
⁴⁴ and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

Revelation 6:1-17: ¹ Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”
² And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.
³ When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”
⁴ And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
⁵ When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.
⁶ And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”
⁷ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”
⁸ And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
⁹ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
¹⁰ They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
¹¹ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
¹² When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,
¹³ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
¹⁴ The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,
¹⁶ calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”