9 ^[a]If only my head were a pool of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
    for all my people who have been slaughtered.

²¹ I hurt with the hurt of my people.
    I mourn and am overcome with grief.
²² Is there no medicine in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why is there no healing
    for the wounds of my people?

⁴ That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep;
    do not try to comfort me.
Let me cry for my people
    as I watch them being destroyed.”

¹¹ I have cried until the tears no longer come;
    my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
    as I see the desperate plight of my people.
Little children and tiny babies
    are fainting and dying in the streets.

²⁶ Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap
    and sit among the ashes.
Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son.
    For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!

⁴⁸ Tears stream from my eyes
    because of the destruction of my people!

⁴⁹ My tears flow endlessly;
    they will not stop

¹⁸ Cry aloud^[a] before the Lord,
    O walls of beautiful Jerusalem!
Let your tears flow like a river
    day and night.
Give yourselves no rest;
    give your eyes no relief.

¹⁹ Rise during the night and cry out.
    Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him in prayer,
    pleading for your children,
for in every street
    they are faint with hunger.

“Night and day my eyes overflow with tears.
    I cannot stop weeping,
for my virgin daughter—my precious people—
    has been struck down
    and lies mortally wounded.