Exhaustion

²⁴ And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in the land, the farmers and those who move with the flocks,

²⁵ for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”

³ And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

⁴ while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

⁶ And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷ A second time the angel of the LORD returned and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”

⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

¹⁷ But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.

¹⁸ Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.

Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.

Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit.

¹ “Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

² Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.

³ So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me.

⁴ When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

Meanwhile, the people of Judah said: “The strength of the laborer fails, and there is so much rubble that we will never be able to rebuild the wall.”

¹¹ So Moses asked the LORD, “Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? Why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid upon me the burden of all these people?

¹² Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, so that You should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries an infant,’ to the land that You swore to give their fathers?

¹³ Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

¹⁴ I cannot carry all these people by myself; it is too burdensome for me.

¹⁵ If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”

¹⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.

² I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

³ I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.

Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.

⁴ My spirit grows faint within me; my heart is dismayed inside me.

⁵ I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I consider the work of Your hands.

⁶ I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

⁷ Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²² For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?

²³ Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

²⁹ He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

³¹ But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”

Surely He has now exhausted me; You have devastated all my family.

I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.

But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes all by myself?

²⁸ Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the troops with a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ That is why the people are faint.”

²⁹ “My father has brought trouble to the land,” Jonathan replied. “Just look at how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰ How much better it would have been if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been much greater?”

³¹ That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were very faint.

⁹ So David and his six hundred men went to the Brook of Besor, where some stayed behind

¹⁰ because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.

For when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were pressed from every direction—conflicts on the outside, fears within.

²⁶ In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,

²⁷ in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

Finally, the king and all the people with him arrived, exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.

So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.

At that time I said to you, “I cannot carry the burden for you alone.

As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

“Master,” Simon replied, “we have worked hard all night without catching anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.”

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!”

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.

And again Jesus returned and found them sleeping—for their eyes were heavy.

Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?

So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

²⁸ They brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils,

²⁹ honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines; but David became exhausted.

And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.

I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.