Before I went through suffering, I went down the wrong path. 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 was afflicted I went astray, 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 heard the groans of Ephraim’s people. They say,‘ You corrected us like a calf you were training. And we have been trained. Bring us back to you, and we will come back. You are the Lord our God.After we wandered away from you, we turned away from our sins. After we learned our lesson, we beat our chests in sorrow. We were full of shame. What we did when we were young brought dishonor on us.’

I will go back to my lion’s den. I will stay there until they pay the price for their sin. Then they will turn to me. They will suffer so much that they will really want me to help them.”The people say,“ Come. Let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces. But he will heal us. He has wounded us. But he’ll bandage our wounds.

So I will block her path with bushes that have thorns. I’ll build a wall around her. Then she can’t go to her lovers.She will still chase after her lovers. But she won’t catch them. She’ll look for them. But she won’t find them. Then she’ll say,‘ I’ll go back to my husband. That’s where I was at first. I was better off then than I am now.’

It was good for me to suffer. That’s what helped me to understand your orders.

But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray. They did more evil things than the nations the Lord had destroyed to make room for the Israelites.The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people. But they didn’t pay any attention to him.So the Lord brought the army commanders of the king of Assyria against them. They took Manasseh as a prisoner. They put a hook in his nose. They put him in bronze chains. And they took him to Babylon.When Manasseh was in trouble, he asked the Lord his God to help him. He made himself very humble in the sight of the God of his people.Manasseh prayed to him. When he did, the Lord felt sorry for him. He answered his prayer. The Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

Like a lost sheep, I’ve gone down the wrong path. Come and look for me, because I haven’t forgotten to obey your commands.

Lord, I know that your laws are right. You were faithful to your promise when you made me suffer.

“ The wrong path that childish people take will kill them. Foolish people will be destroyed by being satisfied with the way they live.

Have you completely forgotten this word of hope? It speaks to you as a father to his children. It says,“ My son, think of the Lord’s training as important. Do not lose hope when he corrects you.The Lord trains the one he loves. He corrects everyone he accepts as his son.”( Proverbs 3:11, 12)Put up with hard times. God uses them to train you. He is treating you as his children. What children are not trained by their parents?God trains all his children. But what if he doesn’t train you? Then you are not really his children. You are not God’s true sons and daughters at all.Besides, we have all had human fathers who trained us. We respected them for it. How much more should we be trained by the Father of spirits and live!Our parents trained us for a little while. They did what they thought was best. But God trains us for our good. He does this so we may share in his holiness.No training seems pleasant at the time. In fact, it seems painful. But later on it produces a harvest of godliness and peace. It does this for those who have been trained by it.

You have kept my command to remain strong in the faith no matter what happens. So I will keep you from the time of suffering. That time is going to come to the whole world. It will test those who live on the earth.

All the kings who were under the rule of Hadadezer saw that Israel had won the battle over them. So they made a peace treaty with the Israelites. They were brought under Israel’s rule. After that, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

They don’t have the problems most people have. They don’t suffer as other people do.Their pride is like a necklace. They put on meanness as if it were their clothes.Many sins come out of their hard and stubborn hearts. There is no limit to the evil things they can think up.They laugh at others and speak words of hatred. They are proud. They warn others about the harm they can do to them.They brag as if they owned heaven itself. They talk as if they controlled the earth.So people listen to them. They lap up their words like water.They say,“ How would God know what we’re doing? Does the Most High God know anything?”Here is what sinful people are like. They don’t have a care in the world. They keep getting richer and richer.It seems as if I have kept my heart pure for no reason. It didn’t do me any good to wash my hands to show that I wasn’t guilty of doing anything wrong.Day after day I’ve been in pain. God has punished me in a new way every morning.What if I had talked like that? Then I wouldn’t have been faithful to God’s children.I tried to understand it all. But it was more than I could handle.It troubled me until I entered God’s temple. Then I understood what will finally happen to bad people.God, I’m sure you will make them slip and fall. You will throw them down and destroy them.It will happen very suddenly. A terrible death will take them away completely.A dream goes away when a person wakes up. Lord, it will be like that when you rise up. It will be as if those people were only a dream.At one time my heart was sad and my spirit was bitter.I didn’t have any sense. I didn’t know anything. I acted like a wild animal toward you.But I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand.You give me wise advice to guide me. And when I die, you will take me away into the glory of heaven.I don’t have anyone in heaven but you. I don’t want anything on earth besides you.My body and my heart may grow weak. God, you give strength to my heart. You are everything I will ever need.Those who don’t want anything to do with you will die. You destroy all those who aren’t faithful to you.But I am close to you. And that’s good. Lord and King, I have made you my place of safety. I will talk about everything you have done.

One evening David got up from his bed. He walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman taking a bath. She was very beautiful.David sent a messenger to find out who she was. The messenger returned and said,“ She is Bathsheba. She’s the daughter of Eliam. She’s the wife of Uriah. He’s a Hittite.”Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him. And he slept with her. Then she went back home. All of that took place after she had already made herself“ clean” from her monthly period.Later, Bathsheba found out she was pregnant. She sent a message to David. She said,“ I’m pregnant.”So David sent a message to Joab. David said,“ Send me Uriah, the Hittite.” Joab sent him to David.Uriah came to David. David asked him how Joab and the soldiers were doing. He also asked him how the war was going.David said to Uriah,“ Go home and enjoy some time with your wife.” So Uriah left the palace. Then the king sent him a gift.But Uriah didn’t go home. Instead, he slept at the entrance to the palace. He stayed there with all his master’s servants.David was told,“ Uriah didn’t go home.” So he sent for Uriah. David said to him,“ You have been away for a long time. Why didn’t you go home?”Uriah said to David,“ The ark and the army of Israel and Judah are out there in tents. My commander Joab and your special troops are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink? How could I go there and sleep with my wife? I could never do a thing like that. And that’s just as sure as you are alive!”Then David said to him,“ Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back to the battle.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him. David got him drunk. But Uriah still didn’t go home. In the evening he went out and slept on his mat. He stayed there among his master’s servants.The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab. He sent it along with Uriah.In it he wrote,“ Put Uriah out in front. That’s where the fighting is the heaviest. Then pull your men back from him. When you do, the Ammonites will strike him down and kill him.”So Joab attacked the city. He put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest enemy fighters were.The troops came out of the city. They fought against Joab. Some of the men in David’s army were killed. Uriah, the Hittite, also died.Joab sent David a full report of the battle.He told the messenger,“ Tell the king everything that happened in the battle. When you are finished,his anger might explode. He might ask you,‘ Why did you go so close to the city to fight against it? Didn’t you know that the enemy soldiers would shoot arrows down from the wall?Don’t you remember how Abimelek, the son of Jerub- Besheth, was killed? A woman dropped a large millstone on him from the wall. That’s how he died in Thebez. So why did you go so close to the wall?’ If the king asks you that, tell him,‘ And your servant Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.’ ”The messenger started out for Jerusalem. When he arrived there, he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.The messenger said to David,“ The men in the city were more powerful than we were. They came out to fight against us in the open. But we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate.Then those who were armed with bows shot arrows at us from the wall. Some of your special troops were killed. Your servant Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.”David told the messenger,“ Tell Joab,‘ Don’t get upset over what happened. Swords kill one person as well as another. So keep on attacking the city. Destroy it.’ Tell that to Joab. It will cheer him up.”Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead. She mourned over him.When her time of sadness was over, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife. And she had a son by him. But the Lord wasn’t pleased with what David had done.

When you felt secure, I warned you. But you said,‘ I won’t listen!’ You have acted like that ever since you were young. You have not obeyed me.

When Israel grew fat, they became stubborn. When they were filled with food, they became fat and heavy. They left the God who made them. They turned away from the Rock who saved them.