אֲרַע

“Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.

A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him on the path.

As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’

He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust.

Yahweh’s words are flawless words, as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times.

They have now surrounded us in our steps. They set their eyes to cast us down to the earth.

For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth.

They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

Truth springs out of the earth. Righteousness has looked down from heaven.

You have renounced the covenant of your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust.

You have ended his splendor, and thrown his throne down to the ground.

For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.

Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.

Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?”

I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth.

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.

How you have fallen from heaven, shining one, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!

Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.

He has brought the high fortress of your walls down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.

For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust.

You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.

“Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”

I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, like a street to those who walk over.”

Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege.

“Judah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem goes up.

“I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

“They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

“ ‘ “I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.

The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not. Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust on their heads. They have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust on their heads. They have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

My eyes fail with tears. My heart is troubled. My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

“The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger. You have slaughtered, and not pitied.