That evening they heard the LORD God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees.

He answered, "I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked."

The man answered, "The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it."

Then the LORD God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.

And he said to the woman, "I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband, yet you will be subject to him."

It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants.

Then they took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in town, and fasted for seven days.

When the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to the palace; she became his wife and bore him a son. But the LORD was not pleased with what David had done.

The LORD sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, "There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor.

while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him.

David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die!

"You are that man," Nathan said to David. "And this is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul.

Why, then, have you disobeyed my commands? Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife!

I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you. You will see it when I take your wives from you and give them to another man; and he will have intercourse with them in broad daylight.

he went and got the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the people of Jabesh in Gilead. (They had stolen them from the public square in Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged the bodies on the day they killed Saul on Mount Gilboa.)

Then they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the grave of Saul's father Kish, in Zela in the territory of Benjamin, doing all that the king had commanded. And after that, God answered their prayers for the country.

You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.

I was angry with them because of their sin and greed, and so I punished them and abandoned them. But they were stubborn and kept on going their own way.

"I hear the people of Israel say in grief, ' LORD, we were like an untamed animal, but you taught us to obey. Bring us back; we are ready to return to you, the LORD our God.

We turned away from you, but soon we wanted to return. After you had punished us, we hung our heads in grief. We were ashamed and disgraced because we sinned when we were young.'

So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs.

He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.

I am worn out, O LORD; have pity on me! Give me strength; I am completely exhausted

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in trouble; my eyes are tired from so much crying; I am completely worn out.

I am exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has shortened my life. I am weak from all my troubles; even my bones are wasting away.

Because of your anger, I am in great pain; my whole body is diseased because of my sins.

Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness; and though you have crushed me and broken me, I will be happy once again.

My life is disappearing like smoke; my body is burning like fire.

I groan aloud; I am nothing but skin and bones.

At night my bones all ache; the pain that gnaws me never stops.

My skin has turned dark; I am burning with fever.

Judah's people are helpless slaves, forced away from home. They live in other lands, with no place to call their own--- Surrounded by enemies, with no way to escape.

He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones.

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I have cried desperately for help, but still it does not come.

I am worn out and utterly crushed; my heart is troubled, and I groan with pain.

Instead of eating, I mourn, and I can never stop groaning.

At the corner of every street your people collapse from weakness; they are like deer caught in a hunter's net. They have felt the force of God's anger.

We are frightened and distressed. We long for God to save us from oppression and wrong, but nothing happens.

I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen;

They have not prayed to me sincerely, but instead they throw themselves down and wail as the heathen do. When they pray for grain and wine, they gash themselves like pagans. What rebels they are!