Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept Your Word.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your Statutes.

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He who goes forth with weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the recesses of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; a great company shall return there.

They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.

Thus says Jehovah: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

And there is hope for your future, says Jehovah, that your children shall come back to their own territory.

Surely after I was turned back, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

In those days, and at that time, says Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek Jehovah their God.

They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces headed there, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten.

And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

we have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Your commandments and from Your judgments.

O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us the shame of face, as it is this day to the men of Judah, and to those living in Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near and who are afar in all the lands where You have driven them for their unfaithfulness which they have trespassed against You.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him.

Yea, all Israel has transgressed Your Law and turned aside so as not to obey Your voice. For this reason the curse has poured out on us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.

As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we did not make our prayer before Jehovah our God that we might turn from our depravities and understand Your truth.

And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made for Yourself a name, as it is this day; we have sinned; we have done wickedly.

And now, hear, O our God, the prayer of Your servant and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary that is desolate, for the sake of the Lord.

O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give attention and act! Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God. For Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.

I ate no pleasant food, and no flesh or wine came into my mouth. I did not anoint myself at all until three whole weeks were fulfilled.

And he said, O man greatly beloved, do not fear. Peace to you. Be strong. Yea, be strong! And when he had spoken to me I was strengthened. And I said, Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.

And I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplication. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they shall be bitter over Him, like the bitterness over the firstborn.

And the land shall mourn, each family alone: the family of the house of David alone, and their wives alone; the family of the house of Nathan alone, and their wives alone;

all the families who remain, each family alone, and their wives alone.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will become joy.

Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy from you.

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry unto repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.

For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vengeance! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

And not only that, but we also exult in afflictions, knowing that affliction produces perseverance;

and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is achieving for us a surpassing and eternal weight of glory,

For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

But let patience have its perfecting work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.