¹⁵ If I am guilty, too bad for me;
    and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high,
    because I am filled with shame and misery.

¹¹ But the wicked are doomed,
    for they will get exactly what they deserve.

¹⁵ Even if I were right, I would have no defense.
    I could only plead for mercy.

²⁰ Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty.
    Though I am blameless, it^[a] would prove me wicked.

²¹ “I am innocent,
    but it makes no difference to me—
    I despise my life.

¹⁸ Feel my pain and see my trouble.
    Forgive all my sins.

⁸ Slaves have now become our masters;
    there is no one left to rescue us.
⁹ We hunt for food at the risk of our lives,
    for violence rules the countryside.
¹⁰ The famine has blackened our skin
    as though baked in an oven.
¹¹ Our enemies rape the women in Jerusalem^[a]
    and the young girls in all the towns of Judah.
¹² Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs,
    and our elders are treated with contempt.
¹³ Young men are led away to work at millstones,
    and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.
¹⁴ The elders no longer sit in the city gates;
    the young men no longer dance and sing.
¹⁵ Joy has left our hearts;
    our dancing has turned to mourning.
¹⁶ The garlands have^[b] fallen from our heads.
    Weep for us because we have sinned.
¹⁷ Our hearts are sick and weary,
    and our eyes grow dim with tears.
¹⁸ For Jerusalem^[c] is empty and desolate,
    a place haunted by jackals.