Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



By the rivers of Babylon, there we [captives] sat down, yes, we wept when we [earnestly] remembered Zion [the city of our God imprinted on our hearts]. On the willow trees in the midst of [Babylon] we hung our harps. For there they who led us captive required of us a song with words, and our tormentors and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. read more.
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill [with the harp]. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember you not, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy!


For Your servants find [melancholy] pleasure in the stones [of her ruins]
And feel pity for her dust.



For the sake of the house of the Lord our God [which is Jerusalem],
I will seek your (the city’s) good.

May the Lord bless you out of Zion [His sanctuary], and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life; Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel!


Therefore I say, “Look away from me;
Let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”


“And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up and restore the age-old foundations [of buildings that have been laid waste];
You will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

For Zion’s sake I (Isaiah) will not be silent,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness and vindication go forth as brightness,
And her salvation goes forth like a burning torch.

I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, who will never hold their peace day or night; you who [are His servants and by your prayers] put the Lord in remembrance [of His promises], keep not silence, And give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth.


“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her;
Rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her,

As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. When you see this, your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like green and tender grass. And the [powerful] hand of the Lord shall be revealed and known to be with His servants, but His indignation [shown] to be against His enemies.

Oh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!


“Therefore [Jeremiah] you will say this word to them,
‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
And let them never cease;
For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a great blow,
With a very serious and severely infected wound.

You who have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still! [Seriously and earnestly] remember the Lord from afar [Babylon], and let [desolate] Jerusalem come into your mind. We are confounded and ashamed, for we have heard reproach; confusion and shame have covered our faces, for strangers have come into the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the Lord [even those forbidden for entrance by all but the high priest or the appointed priests].


My eyes fail because of tears [mourns Jeremiah],
My spirit is deeply disturbed;
My heart is poured out on the earth [in grief]
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Jerusalem],
When little ones and infants faint
In the streets of the city.

My eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes overflow continually and will not cease Until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven. read more.
My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens [and the daughter-towns] of my city [Jerusalem].


so that your fasting will not be noticed by people, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.

Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity], and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, Here I am. If you take away from your midst yokes of oppression [wherever you find them], the finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and every form of false, harsh, unjust, and wicked speaking, And if you pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like the noonday. read more.
And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.



“I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia, the myrtle and the olive tree;
I will place the juniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,


“And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up and restore the age-old foundations [of buildings that have been laid waste];
You will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.


For the Lord will comfort Zion [in her captivity];
He will comfort all her ruins.
And He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the voice of a melody.

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad;
The Arabah (desert) will shout in exultation and blossom
Like the autumn crocus.


Confirming the word of His servant
And carrying out the plan of His messengers.
It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall [again] be inhabited!’
And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall [again] be built.’
And I will raise up and restore her ruins.


“For your ruins and desolate places and your land [once the scene] of destruction—
Certainly now [in the coming years] will be too cramped for the inhabitants,
And those who once engulfed you will be far away.


Break forth, shout joyfully together,
You ruins of Jerusalem;
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.


Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up and restore the former desolations;
And they will renew the ruined cities,
The desolations (deserted settlements) of many generations.

I will multiply people on you, all the house of Israel, [indeed] all of it; the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt.