Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

我未受苦以先走迷了路，现在却遵守你的话。

我未受苦以先曾经迷失，现在却遵守你的话。

我未受苦以先曾经迷失，现在却遵守你的话。

从前我没有受苦的时候走迷了路，现在我要遵行你的话。

我受苦以先，犯了错误；现在我谨守你的话。

在我受磨炼之前，我是迷失的；而现在，我遵守你的言语。

我未受苦以先走迷了路，現在卻遵守你的話。

我未受苦以先曾經迷失，現在卻遵守你的話。

我未受苦以先曾經迷失，現在卻遵守你的話。

從前我沒有受苦的時候走迷了路，現在我要遵行你的話。

我受苦以先，犯了錯誤；現在我謹守你的話。

在未遭受苦難以前、我犯了錯誤；現在我遵守你的訓言。

在我受磨煉之前，我是迷失的；而現在，我遵守你的言語。

我未受苦之先、曾入歧路、今守爾言兮、

我未受苦、則迷我途、今守爾道兮、

我未受苦之先、誤行錯路、今我遵守主言、

昔處順境。沈溺邪淫。既遭顚沛。玉我於成。

Before I went through suffering, I went down the wrong path. But now I obey your word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray; But now I observe thy word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Before I was afflicted I used to stray off, but now I keep your instructions.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I observe your word.

“ I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:‘ You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God.After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face— in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”“ Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.

Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say,‘ I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.

I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,“ My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?If you are not disciplined— and everyone undergoes discipline— then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.They say,“ How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeplytill I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said,“ She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.( Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying,“ I am pregnant.”So David sent this word to Joab:“ Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.Then David said to Uriah,“ Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.David was told,“ Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah,“ Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”Uriah said to David,“ The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”Then David said to him,“ Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.In it he wrote,“ Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.Joab sent David a full account of the battle.He instructed the messenger:“ When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle,the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you,‘ Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him,‘ Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.The messenger said to David,“ The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate.Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”David told the messenger,“ Say this to Joab:‘ Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

I warned you when you felt secure, but you said,‘ I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.

Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior.