14 Bible Verses about Being Earnest For Israel

When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,

I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers' sake, my relatives according to the flesh,

that Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. They said to me, "The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire." It happened, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,

Therefore I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.

My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for [your] pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh's flock is taken captive.

My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls. For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!

Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.