Loneliness

You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.

Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.

“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.

Turn to me and be gracious, for I am lonely and afflicted.

My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.

Do not forsake me, O LORD; be not far from me, O my God.

God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care.

You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.

⁶ I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

⁷ I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

⁸ All day long my enemies taunt me; they ridicule me and curse me.

Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

⁸ There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.

⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.

¹⁰ For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”

¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!

Yet no one stretches out his hand to a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.

¹ My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?

² I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.

⁹ Hide not Your face from me, nor turn away Your servant in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation.

¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.

¹¹ Among all my enemies I am a disgrace, and among my neighbors even more. I am dreaded by my friends— they flee when they see me on the street.

¹² I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel.

⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,

⁹ because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

¹³ He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.

¹⁴ My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵ My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.

¹⁶ I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth.

¹⁷ My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.

¹⁸ Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.

All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

¹⁴ Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.

¹⁶ So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

⁵ One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and realized that he had spent a long time in this condition, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.”

Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands she received no help. Her enemies looked upon her, laughing at her downfall.

³ This man had been living in the tombs and could no longer be restrained, even with chains.

⁴ Though he was often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now there was no one with the strength to subdue him.

⁵ Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.

Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.

Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

So King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He lived in isolation, leprous and cut off from the house of the LORD, while his son Jotham had charge of the royal palace to govern the people of the land.

⁹ Make every effort to come to me quickly,

¹⁰ because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.

The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.

“Look, an hour is coming and has already come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.

³⁸ Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”

³⁹ Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter.

“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”?