¹⁹ Woe to me because of my injury!
    My wound^(A) is incurable!
Yet I said to myself,
    “This is my sickness, and I must endure^(B) it.”

³⁹ Why should the living complain
    when punished for their sins?^(A)

⁴⁰ Let us examine our ways and test them,^(B)
    and let us return to the Lord.^(C)

“‘Let my eyes overflow with tears^(A)
    night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin^(B) Daughter, my people,
    has suffered a grievous wound,
    a crushing blow.^(C)

³¹ I hear a cry as of a woman in labor,^(A)
    a groan as of one bearing her first child—
the cry of Daughter Zion^(B) gasping for breath,^(C)
    stretching out her hands^(D) and saying,
“Alas! I am fainting;
    my life is given over to murderers.”^(E)

⁹ I was silent;^(A) I would not open my mouth,^(B)
    for you are the one who has done this.^(C)

⁴⁸ Streams of tears^(A) flow from my eyes^(B)
    because my people are destroyed.^(C)

¹⁸ So I say, “My splendor is gone
    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”^(A)

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,
    the bitterness^(B) and the gall.^(C)
20 I well remember them,
    and my soul is downcast^(D) within me.^(E)
21 Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

¹¹ My eyes fail from weeping,^(A)
    I am in torment within^(B);
my heart^(C) is poured out^(D) on the ground
    because my people are destroyed,^(E)
because children and infants faint^(F)
    in the streets of the city.

¹² They say to their mothers,
    “Where is bread and wine?”^(G)
as they faint like the wounded
    in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away^(H)
    in their mothers’ arms.^(I)

¹³ What can I say for you?^(J)
    With what can I compare you,
    Daughter^(K) Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
    that I may comfort you,
    Virgin Daughter Zion?^(L)
Your wound is as deep as the sea.^(M)
    Who can heal you?

¹⁴ The visions of your prophets
    were false^(N) and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
    to ward off your captivity.^(O)
The prophecies they gave you
    were false and misleading.^(P)

¹⁵ All who pass your way
    clap their hands at you;^(Q)
they scoff^(R) and shake their heads^(S)
    at Daughter Jerusalem:^(T)
“Is this the city that was called
    the perfection of beauty,^(U)
    the joy of the whole earth?”^(V)

¹⁶ All your enemies open their mouths
    wide against you;^(W)
they scoff and gnash their teeth^(X)
    and say, “We have swallowed her up.^(Y)
This is the day we have waited for;
    we have lived to see it.”^(Z)

¹⁷ The Lord has done what he planned;
    he has fulfilled^(AA) his word,
    which he decreed long ago.^(AB)
He has overthrown you without pity,^(AC)
    he has let the enemy gloat over you,^(AD)
    he has exalted the horn^[a] of your foes.^(AE)

¹⁸ The hearts of the people
    cry out to the Lord.^(AF)
You walls of Daughter Zion,^(AG)
    let your tears^(AH) flow like a river
    day and night;^(AI)
give yourself no relief,
    your eyes no rest.^(AJ)

¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night,
    as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart^(AK) like water
    in the presence of the Lord.^(AL)
Lift up your hands^(AM) to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint^(AN) from hunger
    at every street corner.

²⁰ “Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,^(AO)
    the children they have cared for?^(AP)
Should priest and prophet be killed^(AQ)
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?^(AR)

²¹ “Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.^(AS)
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.^(AT)

²² “As you summon to a feast day,
    so you summoned against me terrors^(AU) on every side.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
    no one escaped^(AV) or survived;
those I cared for and reared^(AW)
    my enemy has destroyed.”