^4 (J)You are my King, O God;
    ^(K)ordain salvation for Jacob!
⁵ Through you we ^(L)push down our foes;
    through your name we ^(M)tread down those who rise up against us.
⁶ For not in ^(N)my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
⁷ But you have saved us from our foes
    and have ^(O)put to shame those who hate us.
^8 (P)In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

⁹ But you have ^(Q)rejected us and disgraced us
    and ^(R)have not gone out with our armies.
¹⁰ You have made us ^(S)turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
¹¹ You have made us like ^(T)sheep for slaughter
    and have ^(U)scattered us among the nations.
^12 (V)You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
¹³ You have made us ^(W)the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and ^(X)scorn of those around us.
¹⁴ You have made us ^(Y)a byword among the nations,
    ^(Z)a laughingstock^[b] among the peoples.
¹⁵ All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and ^(AA)shame has covered my face
¹⁶ at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of ^(AB)the enemy and the avenger.

^17 (AC)All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our ^(AD)steps ^(AE)departed from your way;
¹⁹ yet you have ^(AF)broken us in the place of ^(AG)jackals
    and covered us with ^(AH)the shadow of death.
²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or ^(AI)spread out our hands to ^(AJ)a foreign god,
^21 (AK)would not God discover this?
    ^(AL)For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²² Yet ^(AM)for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

^23 (AN)Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! ^(AO)Do not reject us forever!
²⁴ Why ^(AP)do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
²⁵ For our ^(AQ)soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
²⁶ Rise up; ^(AR)come to our help!
    ^(AS)Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

² The precious sons of Zion,
    worth their weight in ^(C)fine gold,
how they are regarded as ^(D)earthen pots,
    the work of a potter's hands!

³ Even jackals offer the breast;
    they nurse their young;
but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
    like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴ The tongue of the nursing infant ^(E)sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(F)the children beg for food,
    but no one gives to them.

⁵ Those who once feasted on delicacies
    perish in the streets;
^(G)those who were brought up in purple
    embrace ash heaps.

^6 (H)For the chastisement^[a] of the daughter of my people has been greater
    than the punishment^[b] of Sodom,
^(I)which was overthrown in a moment,
    and no hands were wrung for her.^[c]

⁷ Her princes were purer than snow,
    whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
    the beauty of their form^[d] was like sapphire.^[e]

^8 (J)Now their face is blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets;
their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as wood.

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword
    than the victims of hunger,
who wasted away, pierced
    by lack of the fruits of the field.

^10 (K)The hands of ^(L)compassionate women
    ^(M)have boiled their own children;
^(N)they became their food
    during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

^11 (O)The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
    he poured out his hot anger,
and ^(P)he kindled a fire in Zion
    that consumed its foundations.

^12 (Q)The kings of the earth did not believe,
    nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ This was for ^(R)the sins of her prophets
    and ^(S)the iniquities of her priests,
who shed in the midst of her
    the blood of the righteous.

^14 (T)They wandered, blind, through the streets;
    they were so defiled with blood
^(U)that no one was able to touch
    their garments.

¹⁵ “Away! ^(V)Unclean!” people cried at them.
    “Away! Away! Do not touch!”
So they became fugitives and wanderers;
    people said among the nations,
    “They shall stay with us no longer.”

^16 (W)The Lord himself^[f] has scattered them;
    he will regard them no more;
^(X)no honor was shown to the priests,
    ^(Y)no favor to the elders.

^17 (Z)Our eyes failed, ever watching
    ^(AA)vainly for help;
in our watching we watched
    for ^(AB)a nation which could not save.

^18 (AC)They dogged our steps
    so that we could not walk in our streets;
^(AD)our end drew near; our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were ^(AE)swifter
    than the eagles in the heavens;
they chased us on the mountains;
    they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

^20 (AF)The breath of our nostrils, ^(AG)the Lord's anointed,
    was captured ^(AH)in their pits,
of whom we said, ^(AI)“Under his shadow
    we shall live among the nations.”

^21 (AJ)Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
    you who dwell in ^(AK)the land of Uz;
but to you also ^(AL)the cup shall pass;
    you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

^22 (AM)The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
    he will keep you in exile no longer;^[g]
but ^(AN)your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
    he will uncover your sins.