² Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish;
they are black unto the ground;
and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
³ And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters:
they came to the pits, and found no water;
they returned with their vessels empty;
they were ashamed and confounded,
and covered their heads.
⁴ Because the ground is chapt,
for there was no rain in the earth,
the plowmen were ashamed,
they covered their heads.
⁵ Yea, the hind also calved in the field,
and forsook it, because there was no grass.
⁶ And the wild asses did stand in the high places,
they snuffed up the wind like dragons;
their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

⁷ O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
do thou it for thy name’s sake:
for our backslidings are many;
we have sinned against thee.
⁸ O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble,
why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land,
and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
⁹ Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied,
as a mighty man that cannot save?
yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us,
and we are called by thy name;
leave us not.

¹⁹ Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?
hath thy soul lothed Zion?
why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us?
we looked for peace, and there is no good;
and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
²⁰ We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness,
and the iniquity of our fathers:
for we have sinned against thee.
²¹ Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake,
do not disgrace the throne of thy glory:
remember, break not thy covenant with us.
²² Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain?
or can the heavens give showers?
art not thou he, O Lord our God?
therefore we will wait upon thee:
for thou hast made all these things.