My stomach, my stomach! I am convulsed to my heart! My heart groans within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of one bearing her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul is weary because of murderers.

For the ruin of the daughter of my people I am broken; I am in gloom; horror has seized me.

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

O Jehovah, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Jehovah, the Fountain of Living Waters.

She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers, she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt deceitfully with her; they have become her enemies.

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which is done to me, with which Jehovah has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand, woven together, and thrust upon my neck. He has made my strength to falter; the Lord has delivered me into their hands. I am not able to rise up.

For these I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who could refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed.

Jehovah is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. I beseech you, all peoples, hear and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

Behold, O Jehovah, for I am in distress; my stomach is upset; my heart churns within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the sword bereaves; at home it is like death.

Let all their wickedness come before You; and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

My eyes fail with tears; my stomach is upset; my liver is poured on the ground for the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the babies faint in the streets of the city.

What can I testify for you? To what thing shall I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I equal you, so that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your break is great like the sea! Who can heal you?

All who pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city which is called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?

Jehovah has done what He had purposed; He has fulfilled His Word which He commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down and not pitied. And He has caused your enemy to rejoice over you; He has set up the horn of your foes.

Arise, cry out in the night. At the beginning of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your children who faint from hunger at the head of every street.

Young and old lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered and not pitied.

Streams of water run down my eyes for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

I was mute, I did not open my mouth; because You have done it.

And I said, This is my weakness; the years of the right hand of the Most High.

And I will wait on Jehovah, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will watch for Him.

And I said, My strength and my hope from Jehovah are gone.

My soul calls to mind and remembers, and it depresses my mind.

I will bear the indignation of Jehovah because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I shall see His righteousness.