Rut 1:21, Job 29:2-30:31, Lam 4:1, Luk 16:25 | ESV | STEP | I went away full , and the Lord has brought me back empty . Why call me Naomi , when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?

Ruth 1:21

21 ^aI went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Job 29:2-25

2 “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his ^blamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
4 as I was in my prime, ^{▼▼Hebrew my autumn days}
when the ^dfriendship of God was upon my tent,
5 when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my ^echildren were all around me,
6 when my steps were ^fwashed with ^gbutter,
and ^hthe rock poured out for me streams of ⁱoil!
7 When I went out to ^jthe gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
9 the princes refrained from talking
and ^klaid their hand on their mouth;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their ^ltongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I ^mdelivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 ⁿThe blessing of him who was ^oabout to perish came upon me,
and I caused ^pthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I ^qput on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and ^ra turban.
15 I was ^seyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out ^tthe cause of him whom I did not know.
17 I ^ubroke ^vthe fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18 ^wThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^xnest,
and I shall multiply my days as ^ythe sand,
19 my ^zroots spread out to ^aathe waters,
with the dew all night on my ^abbranches,
20 my glory fresh with me,
and my ^acbow ever ^adnew in my hand.’
21 “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word ^aedropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and they ^afopened their mouths as for the ^agspring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and ^ahthe light of my ^aiface they did not cast down.
25 I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like ^aja king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.

Job 30

1 “But now they ^aklaugh at me,
men who are ^alyounger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
^ammen whose ^anvigor is gone?
3 Through want and hard hunger
they ^aognaw ^apthe dry ground by night in ^aqwaste and desolation;
4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food. ^{▼▼Or warmth}
5 ^asThey are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of ^atthe rocks.
7 Among the bushes they ^aubray;
under ^avthe nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9 “And now I have become their ^awsong;
I am ^axa byword to them.
10 They ^ayabhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to ^azspit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint ^{▼▼Hebrew the bridle} in my presence.
12 On my ^bbright hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they ^bccast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path;
they promote my ^bdcalamity;
they need no one to help them.
14 As through a wide ^bebreach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15 ^bfTerrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like ^bga cloud.
16 “And now my soul is ^bhpoured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 ^biThe night ^bjracks my bones,
and the pain that ^bkgnaws me takes no rest.
18 With great force my garment is ^bldisfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19 God ^{▼▼Hebrew He} has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like ^bndust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
21 You have ^boturned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you ^bppersecute me.
22 ^bqYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23 ^brFor I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for ^bsall living.
24 “Yet does not one in a ^btheap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help? ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
25 Did not I ^bvweep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But ^bwwhen I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, ^bxdarkness came.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction ^bycome to meet me.
28 I ^bzgo about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in ^cathe assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother of ^cbjackals
and a companion of ^ccostriches.
30 My ^cdskin turns black and falls from me,
and my ^cebones burn with heat.
31 My ^cflyre is ^cgturned to mourning,
and my ^chpipe to the voice of those who weep.

Lamentations 4:1

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

1 ^ciHow the gold has grown dim,
how the pure gold is changed!
The holy stones lie scattered
^cjat the head of every street.

Luke 16:25

25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that ^ckyou in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.