<p class="poetry">Do not curse a king even in your thoughts,p> <p class="poetry">and do not curse the rich<n id="1" /> while in your bedroom;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">for a bird<n id="3" /> might report what you are thinking,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">or some winged creature<n id="5" /> might repeat your<n id="6" /> words.<n id="7" />p>

Tell him, &#8216;Make sure you stay calm!<n id="1" /> Don&#8217;t be afraid! Don&#8217;t be intimidated<n id="2" /> by these two stubs of smoking logs,<n id="3" /> or by the raging anger of Rezin, Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

<p class="poetry">Don&#8217;t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame!p> <p class="poetry">Don&#8217;t be intimidated,<n id="1" /> for you will not be humiliated!p> <p class="poetry">You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth;p> <p class="poetry">you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">No foreigner who becomes a follower of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> should say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> will certainly<n id="2" /> exclude me from his people.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">The eunuch should not say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Look, I am like a dried-up tree.&#8217;&#8221;p>

So, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> do not pray for these people. Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf. Do not plead with me to save them.<n id="2" /> For I will not listen to them when they call out to me for help when disaster strikes them.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">But you, <sc>Lordsc>, knowp> <p class="poetry">all their plots to kill me.p> <p class="poetry">Do not pardon their crimes!p> <p class="poetry">Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let them be brought down in defeat before you!p> <p class="poetry">Deal with them while you are still angry!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;Do not let the prophets or those among you who claim to be able to predict the future by divination<n id="2" /> deceive you. And do not pay any attention to the dreams that you are encouraging them to dream.

<p class="poetry">So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell you not to be afraid,p> <p class="poetry">you descendants of Jacob, my servants.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from a faraway land where you are captives.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.<n id="3" />p>

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear.<n id="1" /> Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">&#8220;You descendants of Jacob, my servants,<n id="2" /> do not be afraid;p> <p class="poetry">do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from the faraway lands where you are captives.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.p>

<p class="lamhebrew"><b>&#1510;b> (<i>Tsadei>)p> <p class="poetry">Cry out<n id="1" /> from your heart<n id="2" /> to the Lord,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">O wall of Daughter Zion!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Make your tears flow like a riverp> <p class="poetry">all day and all night long!<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not rest;p> <p class="poetry">do not let your tears<n id="6" /> stop!p>

So they cried out to the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Oh, please, <sc>Lordsc>, don&#8217;t let us die on account of this man! Don&#8217;t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood.<n id="1" /> After all, you, <sc>Lordsc>, have done just as you pleased.&#8221;<n id="2" />

Do not plan evil in your hearts against one another. Do not favor a false oath &#8211; these are all things that I hate,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Abram said to Lot, &#8220;Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Then Abraham<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;May the Lord not be angry<n id="2" /> so that I may speak!<n id="3" /> What if thirty are found there?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;I will not do it if I find thirty there.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Finally Abraham<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.&#8221;p>

When her labor was at its hardest,<n id="1" /> the midwife said to her, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid, for you are having another son.&#8221;<n id="2" />

Come, let&#8217;s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let&#8217;s not lay a hand on him,<n id="1" /> for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.&#8221; His brothers agreed.<n id="2" />

Reuben said to them, &#8220;Didn&#8217;t I say to you, &#8216;Don&#8217;t sin against the boy,&#8217; but you wouldn&#8217;t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!&#8221;<n id="1" />

He said, &#8220;I am God,<n id="1" /> the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.