⁹ I say to God my Rock,^(A)
    “Why have you forgotten^(B) me?
Why must I go about mourning,^(C)
    oppressed^(D) by the enemy?”^(E)

⁶ I am bowed down^(A) and brought very low;
    all day long I go about mourning.^(B)

² The Lord is my rock,^(A) my fortress^(B) and my deliverer;^(C)
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,^(D)
    my shield^[a](E) and the horn^[b] of my salvation,^(F) my stronghold.

5 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
    look, and see our disgrace.^(A)
2 Our inheritance^(B) has been turned over to strangers,^(C)
    our homes^(D) to foreigners.^(E)
3 We have become fatherless,
    our mothers are widows.^(F)
4 We must buy the water we drink;^(G)
    our wood can be had only at a price.^(H)
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
    we are weary^(I) and find no rest.^(J)
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria^(K)
    to get enough bread.
⁷ Our ancestors^(L) sinned and are no more,
    and we bear their punishment.^(M)
8 Slaves^(N) rule over us,
    and there is no one to free us from their hands.^(O)
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives
    because of the sword in the desert.
¹⁰ Our skin is hot as an oven,
    feverish from hunger.^(P)
11 Women have been violated^(Q) in Zion,
    and virgins in the towns of Judah.
¹² Princes have been hung up by their hands;
    elders^(R) are shown no respect.^(S)
13 Young men toil at the millstones;
    boys stagger under loads of wood.
¹⁴ The elders are gone from the city gate;
    the young men have stopped their music.^(T)
15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
    our dancing has turned to mourning.^(U)
16 The crown^(V) has fallen from our head.^(W)
    Woe to us, for we have sinned!^(X)

²⁶ Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
    when I looked for light, then came darkness.^(A)
27 The churning inside me never stops;^(B)
    days of suffering confront me.^(C)
28 I go about blackened,^(D) but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.^(E)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,^(F)
    a companion of owls.^(G)
30 My skin grows black^(H) and peels;^(I)
    my body burns with fever.^(J)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,^(K)
    and my pipe^(L) to the sound of wailing.

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child^(A) she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!^(B)

²⁷ Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?^(A)

I saw the tears of the oppressed—
    and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
    and they have no comforter.^(B)