then let us get up and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

When you are in distress and tribulation and all these things come on you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

For the Lord your God is a merciful and compassionate God; He will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

In my distress I called upon the Lord;

I cried out to my God,

And from His temple [in the heavens] He heard my voice;

My cry for help came into His ears.

But when they were in their trouble and distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and [in desperation earnestly] sought Him, and He let them find Him.

“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord].

Give us help against the enemy,

For the help of man is worthless (ineffectual, without purpose).

In the day of my trouble I will call upon You,

For You will answer me.

There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord,

Nor are there any works [of wonder and majesty] like Yours.

He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.

This is my comfort in my affliction,

That Your word has revived me and given me life.

The wicked man earns deceptive wages,

But he who sows righteousness and lives his life with integrity will have a true reward [that is both permanent and satisfying].

If you are slack (careless) in the day of distress,

Your strength is limited.

For You have been a stronghold for the helpless,

A stronghold for the poor in his distress,

A shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat;

For the breath of tyrants

Is like a rainstorm against a wall.

[Then said Jeremiah] “O Lord, my Strength and my Stronghold,

And my Refuge in the day of distress and need,

The nations will come to You

From the ends of the earth and say,

‘Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies and illusion,

[Worthless] things in which there is no benefit!’

We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

Please remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful and violate your obligations to Me I will scatter you [abroad] among the peoples;

who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.