'Us' in the Bible

They stopped asking, “Where is the Lordwho brought us from the land of Egypt,who led us through the wilderness,through a land of deserts and ravines,through a land of drought and darkness,a land no one traveled throughand where no one lived?”

say to a tree, “You are my father,”and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”For they have turned their back to Meand not their face,yet in their time of disaster they beg,“Rise up and save us!”

Let us lie down in our shame;let our disgrace cover us.We have sinned against the Lord our God,both we and our fathers,from the time of our youth even to this day.We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Because of this, put on sackcloth;mourn and wail,for the Lord’s burning angerhas not turned away from us.

Look, he advances like clouds;his chariots are like a storm.His horses are swifter than eagles.Woe to us, for we are ruined!

They have contradicted the Lordand insisted, “It won’t happen.Harm won’t come to us;we won’t see sword or famine.”

When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

They have not said to themselves,‘Let’s fear the Lord our God,who gives the rain, both early and late, in its season,who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’

Set them apart for war against her;rise up, let’s attack at noon.Woe to us, for the day is passing;the evening shadows grow long.

Rise up, let’s attack by night.Let us destroy her fortresses.”

We have heard about it,and we are discouraged.Distress has seized us—pain like a woman in labor.

My dear people, dress yourselves in sackclothand roll in the dust.Mourn as you would for an only son,a bitter lament,for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

“How can you claim, ‘We are wise;the law of the Lord is with us’?In fact, the lying pen of scribeshas produced falsehood.

Why are we just sitting here?Gather together; let us enter the fortified citiesand perish there,for the Lord our God has destroyed us.He has given us poisoned water to drink,because we have sinned against the Lord.

Let them come quickly to raise a lament over usso that our eyes may overflow with tears,our eyelids soaked with weeping.

Though our guilt testifies against us,Yahweh, act for Your name’s sake.Indeed, our rebellions are many;we have sinned against You.

Why are You like a helpless man,like a warrior unable to save?Yet You are among us, Yahweh,and we are called by Your name.Don’t leave us!

Have You completely rejected Judah?Do You detest Zion?Why do You strike uswith no hope of healing for us?We hoped for peace,but there was nothing good;for a time of healing,but there was only terror.

Because of Your name, don’t despise us.Don’t disdain Your glorious throne.Remember Your covenant with us;do not break it.

“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’

But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

“Ask the Lord on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all His past wonderful works so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”

Beware! I am against you,you who sit above the valley,you atop the rocky plateau—this is the Lord’s declaration—you who say, “Who can come down against us?Who can enter our hiding places?”

Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man doesn’t deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God!”

You have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon!”

For he has sent word to us in Babylon, claiming, “The exile will be long. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”

We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, in all he commanded us. So we haven’t drunk wine our whole life—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters.

But we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done as our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.

Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us—how did you write all these words? At his dictation?”

Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, requesting, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us!”

This is what the Lord says: Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will leave us for good,’ for they will not leave.

King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in private, “As the Lord lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who want to take your life.”

If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; don’t hide anything from us and we won’t kill you. Also, what did the king say to you?’

As for me, I am going to live in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have captured.”

However, there were 10 men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions.

Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the Lord your God on our behalf, on behalf of this entire remnant (for few of us remain out of the many, as you can see with your own eyes),

that the Lord your God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”

And they said to Jeremiah, “As for every word the Lord your God sends you to tell us, if we don’t act accordingly, may the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us.

Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you so that it may go well with us. We will certainly obey the voice of the Lord our God!”

You have led your own selves astray because you are the ones who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us, and we’ll act accordingly.’

Rather, Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans to put us to death or to deport us to Babylon!”

“As for the word you spoke to us in the name of Yahweh, we are not going to listen to you!

We tried to heal Babylon,but she could not be healed.Abandon her!Let each of us go to his own land,for her judgment extends to the skyand reaches as far as the clouds.