¹⁸ Why is my pain unending
    and my wound grievous and incurable?^(A)
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
    like a spring that fails.^(B)

¹⁵ Why do you cry out over your wound,
    your pain that has no cure?^(A)
Because of your great guilt and many sins
    I have done these things to you.^(B)

⁶ Although I am right,
    I am considered a liar;^(A)
although I am guiltless,^(B)
    his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’^(C)

“‘Your wound^(A) is incurable,
    your injury beyond healing.^(B)

¹⁹ Have you rejected Judah completely?^(A)
    Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
    so that we cannot be healed?^(B)
We hoped for peace
    but no good has come,
for a time of healing
    but there is only terror.^(C)

³ The nobles send their servants for water;
    they go to the cisterns
    but find no water.^(A)
They return with their jars unfilled;
    dismayed and despairing,
    they cover their heads.^(B)

3 ^[a]I am the man who has seen affliction^(A)
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.^(B)
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
    in darkness^(C) rather than light;
³ indeed, he has turned his hand against me^(D)
    again and again, all day long.

⁴ He has made my skin and my flesh grow old^(E)
    and has broken my bones.^(F)
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
    with bitterness^(G) and hardship.^(H)
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
    like those long dead.^(I)

⁷ He has walled me in so I cannot escape;^(J)
    he has weighed me down with chains.^(K)
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,^(L)
    he shuts out my prayer.^(M)
9 He has barred^(N) my way with blocks of stone;
    he has made my paths crooked.^(O)

¹⁰ Like a bear lying in wait,
    like a lion^(P) in hiding,^(Q)
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled^(R) me
    and left me without help.
¹² He drew his bow^(S)
    and made me the target^(T) for his arrows.^(U)

¹³ He pierced^(V) my heart
    with arrows from his quiver.^(W)
14 I became the laughingstock^(X) of all my people;^(Y)
    they mock me in song^(Z) all day long.
¹⁵ He has filled me with bitter herbs
    and given me gall to drink.^(AA)

¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel;^(AB)
    he has trampled me in the dust.^(AC)
17 I have been deprived of peace;
    I have forgotten what prosperity is.
¹⁸ So I say, “My splendor is gone
    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”^(AD)