^2 (B)“Judah mourns,
    and ^(C)her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
    and ^(D)the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
³ Her nobles send their servants for water;
    they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
    they return with their vessels empty;
they are ^(E)ashamed and confounded
    and ^(F)cover their heads.
⁴ Because of the ground that is dismayed,
    since there is ^(G)no rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed;
    they cover their heads.
⁵ Even ^(H)the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
    because there is no grass.
^6 (I)The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
    they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
    because there is no vegetation.

⁷ “Though our iniquities testify against us,
    act, O Lord, ^(J)for your name's sake;
^(K)for our backslidings are many;
    ^(L)we have sinned against you.
^8 (M)O you hope of Israel,
    its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
    like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
⁹ Why should you be like a man confused,
    ^(N)like a mighty warrior who cannot save?
Yet ^(O)you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
    and ^(P)we are called by your name;
    ^(Q)do not leave us.”

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
“They have loved to wander thus;
    they have not restrained their feet;
^(R)therefore the Lord does not accept them;
    ^(S)now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.”

^19 (A)Have you utterly rejected Judah?
    Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
    ^(B)so that there is no healing for us?
^(C)We looked for peace, but no good came;
    ^(D)for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
^20 (E)We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
    and the iniquity of our fathers,
    ^(F)for we have sinned against you.
²¹ Do not spurn us, ^(G)for your name's sake;
    do not dishonor your glorious throne;
    ^(H)remember and do not break your covenant with us.
²² Are there any among ^(I)the false gods of the nations ^(J)that can bring rain?
    Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Lord our God?
    We set our hope on you,
    ^(K)for you do all these things.

³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    ^(H)my King and my God.
^4 (I)Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever ^(J)singing your praise! Selah

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    ^(K)in whose heart are the highways to Zion.^[b]
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
    they make it a place of springs;
    ^(L)the early rain also covers it with ^(M)pools.
⁷ They go ^(N)from strength to strength;
    each one ^(O)appears before God in Zion.

⁸ O ^(P)Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
    give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
^9 (Q)Behold our ^(R)shield, O God;
    look on the face of your anointed!

¹⁰ For a day ^(S)in your courts is better
    than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be ^(T)a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹ For the Lord God is ^(U)a sun and ^(V)shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor.
^(W)No good thing does he withhold
    from those who ^(X)walk uprightly.
¹² O Lord of hosts,
    ^(Y)blessed is the one who trusts in you!