⁴ Because of thirst^(A) the infant’s tongue
    sticks to the roof of its mouth;^(B)
the children beg for bread,
    but no one gives it to them.^(C)

¹⁵ My mouth^[a] is dried up like a potsherd,^(A)
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;^(B)
    you lay me in the dust^(C) of death.

¹¹ My eyes fail from weeping,^(A)
    I am in torment within^(B);
my heart^(C) is poured out^(D) on the ground
    because my people are destroyed,^(E)
because children and infants faint^(F)
    in the streets of the city.

¹² They say to their mothers,
    “Where is bread and wine?”^(G)
as they faint like the wounded
    in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away^(H)
    in their mothers’ arms.^(I)

¹¹ All her people groan^(A)
    as they search for bread;^(B)
they barter their treasures for food
    to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
    for I am despised.”

⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof^(A) of my mouth
    if I do not remember^(B) you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem^(C)
    my highest joy.

²⁴ I will send wasting famine^(A) against them,
    consuming pestilence^(B) and deadly plague;^(C)
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,^(D)
    the venom of vipers^(E) that glide in the dust.^(F)