Why do you keep far away, O Lord? why are you not to be seen in times of trouble?

Why has the evil-doer a low opinion of God, saying in his heart, You will not make search for it?

My God, my God, why are you turned away from me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my crying?

Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.

I will say to God my Rock, Why have you let me go from your memory? why do I go in sorrow because of the attacks of my haters?

Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.

You are the God of my strength; why have you put me from you? why do I go in sorrow because of the attacks of my haters?

Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God, for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.

Why are you sleeping, O Lord? awake! and come to our help, do not give us up for ever.

Why is your face covered, and why do you give no thought to our trouble and our cruel fate?

Why do you take pride in wrongdoing, lifting yourself up against the upright man all the day?

Why are you looking with envy, you high hills, on the hill desired by God as his resting-place? truly, God will make it his house for ever.

Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?

Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe?

Why are its walls broken down by your hands, so that all who go by may take its fruit?

Lord, why have you sent away my soul? why is your face covered from me?

See how short my time is; why have you made all men for no purpose?

You mountains, why were you jumping like goats, and you little hills like lambs?

Why may the nations say, Where is now their God?

Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?

Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.

Say not, Why were the days which have gone by better than these? Such a question comes not from wisdom.

Be not given overmuch to righteousness and be not over-wise. Why let destruction come on you?

Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time?

Say, O love of my soul, where you give food to your flock, and where you make them take their rest in the heat of the day; why have I to be as one wandering by the flocks of your friends?

Why will you have more and more punishment? why keep on in your evil ways? Every head is tired and every heart is feeble.

Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes?

The word about the valley of vision. Why have all your people gone up to the house-tops?

This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field, or a green plant; like the grass on the house-tops, which a cold wind makes waste.

Why do you say, O Jacob, such words as these, O Israel, The Lord's eyes are not on my way, and my God gives no attention to my cause?

Why, then, when I came, was there no man? and no one to give answer to my voice? has my hand become feeble, so that it is unable to take up your cause? or have I no power to make you free? See, at my word the sea becomes dry, I make the rivers a waste land: their fish are dead for need of water, and make an evil smell.

Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure.

They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts;

Why is your clothing red, and why are your robes like those of one who is crushing the grapes?

O Lord, why do you send us wandering from your ways, making our hearts hard, so that we have no fear of you? Come back, because of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.

Why have evil men gone over your holy place, so that it has been crushed under the feet of our haters?

Is Israel a servant? has he been a house-servant from birth? why has he been made waste?

Why will you put forward your cause against me? You have all done evil against me, says the Lord.

O generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a waste land to Israel? or a land of dark night? why do my people say, We have got loose, we will not come to you again?

Why do you go about so much for the purpose of changing your way? you will be shamed on account of Egypt, as you were shamed on account of Assyria.

And it will come about, when you say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that you will say to them, As you gave me up, making yourselves servants to strange gods in your land, so will you be servants to strange men in a land which is not yours.

Why do these people of Jerusalem go back, for ever turning away? they will not give up their deceit, they will not come back.

Why are we seated doing nothing? come together, and let us go to the walled towns, and let destruction overtake us there, for the Lord our God has sent destruction on us, and given us bitter water for our drink, because we have done evil against the Lord.

The voice of the cry of the daughter of my people comes from a far land: Is the Lord not in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they made me angry with their images and their strange gods which are no gods?

Is there no life-giving oil in Gilead? is there no expert in medical arts? why then have my people not been made well?

Who is the wise man able to see this? who is he to whom the word of the Lord has come, so that he may make it clear? why is the land given to destruction and burned up like a waste place, so that no one goes through?

You are in the right, O Lord, when I put my cause before you: still let me take up with you the question of your decisions: why does the evil-doer do well? why are the workers of deceit living in comfort?

And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come on me? because of the number of your sins, your skirts have been uncovered and violent punishment overtakes you.

O you hope of Israel, its saviour in time of trouble, why are you like one who is strange in the land, and like a traveller putting up his tent for a night?

Why are you like a man surprised, like a man of war who is not able to give help? but you, O Lord, are with us, and we are named by your name; do not go away from us.

Have you completely given up Judah? is your soul turned in disgust from Zion? why have you given us blows from which there is no one to make us well? we were looking for peace, but no good came; and for a time of well-being, but there was only a great fear.

Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain.

And it will be, that when you say all these words to the people, then they will say to you, Why has the Lord done all this evil against us? what is our wrongdoing and what is our sin which we have done against the Lord our God?

Why did I come from my mother's body to see pain and sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame?

And nations from all sides will go past this town, and every man will say to his neighbour, Why has the Lord done such things to this great town?

Is this man Coniah a broken vessel of no value? is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? why are they violently sent out, he and his seed, into a land which is strange to them?

Why have you said in the name of the Lord, This house will be like Shiloh, and this land a waste with no one living in it? And all the people had come together to Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

Why are you desiring death, you and your people, by the sword, and because food is gone, and by disease, as the Lord has said of the nation which does not become the servant of the king of Babylon?

Give no attention to them; become servants of the king of Babylon and keep yourselves from death: why let this town become a waste?

So why have you made no protest against Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is acting as a prophet to you?

Put the question and see if it is possible for a man to have birth-pains: why do I see every man with his hands gripping his sides, as a woman does when the pains of birth are on her, and all faces are turned green?

Why are you crying for help because of your wound? for your pain may never be taken away: because your evil-doing was so great and because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.

For Zedekiah, king of Judah, had had him shut up, saying, Why have you, as a prophet, been saying, The Lord has said, See, I will give this town into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;

And about Jehoiakim, king of Judah, you are to say, This is what the Lord has said: You have put this book into the fire, saying, Why have you put in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come, causing the destruction of this land and putting an end to every man and beast in it?

*** and the Lord has made it come, and has done as he said; because of your sin against the Lord in not giving ear to his voice; and that is why this thing has come on you.

Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, said to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, Let me now go and put Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to death without anyone's knowledge: why let him take your life so that all the Jews who have come together to you may be sent in flight, and the rest of the men of Judah come to an end?

So now, the Lord, the God of armies, the God of Israel, has said, Why are you doing this great evil against yourselves, causing every man and woman, little child and baby at the breast among you in Judah to be cut off till not one is still living;

Why has Apis, your strong one, gone in flight? he was not able to keep his place, because the Lord was forcing him down with strength.

About the children of Ammon. These are the words of the Lord: Has Israel no sons? has he no one to take the heritage? why then has Milcom taken Gad for himself, putting his people in its towns?

Why are you lifted up in pride on account of your valleys, your flowing valley, O daughter ever turning away? who puts her faith in her wealth, saying, Who will come against me?

Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long?

Why do you make use of this saying about the land of Israel, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are on edge?

But you say, Why does not the son undergo punishment for the evil-doing of the father? When the son has done what is ordered and right, and has kept my rules and done them, life will certainly be his.

Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?

And when they say to you, Why are you making sounds of grief? then say, Because of the news, for it is coming: and every heart will become soft, and all hands will be feeble, and every spirit will be burning low, and all knees will be turned to water: see, it is coming and it will be done, says the Lord.

Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the evil-doer; it is more pleasing to me if he is turned from his way and has life: be turned, be turned from your evil ways; why are you looking for death, O children of Israel?

He made answer and said to Arioch, O captain of the king, why is the king's order so cruel? Then Arioch gave Daniel an account of the business.

Then he said, It is clear to you why I have come to you. And now I will give you an account of what is recorded in the true writings:

Let the priests, the servants of the Lord, be weeping between the covered way and the altar, and let them say, Have mercy on your people, O Lord, do not give up your heritage to shame, so that the nations become their rulers: why let them say among the peoples, Where is their God?

And he made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? This is why I took care to go in flight to Tarshish: for I was certain that you were a loving God, full of pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, and ready to be turned from your purpose of evil.

Now why are you crying so loudly? is there no king in you? has destruction come on your wise helper? so that pains have taken you like the pains of a woman in childbirth:

Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.

Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself?

What profit is the pictured image to its maker? and as for the metal image, the false teacher, why does its maker put his faith in it, making false gods without a voice?

You were looking for much, and it came to little; and when you got it into your house, I took it away with a breath. Why? says the Lord of armies. Because of my house which is a waste, while every man takes care of the house which is his.

Have we not all one father? has not one God made us? why are we, every one of us, acting falsely to his brother, putting shame on the agreement of our fathers?

And why are you troubled about clothing? See the flowers of the field, how they come up; they do no work, they make no thread:

And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?

And he said to them, Why are you full of fear, O you of little faith? Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

And Jesus, having knowledge of what was in their minds, said, Why are your thoughts evil?

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your Master take food with tax-farmers and sinners?

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees frequently go without food, but your disciples do not?

But why did you go out? to see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you say things to them in the form of stories?

And straight away Jesus put out his hand and took a grip of him, and said to him, O man of little faith, why were you in doubt?

Why do your disciples go against the teaching of the fathers? for they take food with unwashed hands.

And in answer he said to them, Why do you, yourselves, go against the word of God on account of the teaching which has been handed down to you?

And Jesus, seeing it, said, O you of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves, because you have no bread?

And his disciples, questioning him, said, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, Why were we not able to send it out?