^3 (E)Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
    ^(F)keep watch over the door of my lips!
^4 (G)Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
    to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who ^(H)work iniquity,
    and ^(I)let me not eat of their delicacies!

^5 (J)Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
    let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
    let my head not refuse it.
Yet ^(K)my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
⁶ When their judges are ^(L)thrown over the cliff,^[a]
    then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
⁷ As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
    so shall our bones ^(M)be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.^[b]

⁸ But ^(N)my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord;
    ^(O)in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!^[c]
9 Keep me from ^(P)the trap that they have laid for me
    and from the snares of evildoers!
¹⁰ Let the wicked ^(Q)fall into their own nets,
    while I pass by safely.

³ When my spirit ^(E)faints within me,
    you know my way!
In the path where I walk
    they have ^(F)hidden a trap for me.
^4 (G)Look to the ^(H)right and see:
    ^(I)there is none who takes notice of me;
^(J)no refuge remains to me;
    no one cares for my soul.

⁵ I cry to you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my ^(K)refuge,
    my ^(L)portion in ^(M)the land of the living.”
^6 (N)Attend to my cry,
    for ^(O)I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
    ^(P)for they are too strong for me!
^7 (Q)Bring me out of prison,
    that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
    for you will ^(R)deal bountifully with me.

² The Lord ^(D)has swallowed up ^(E)without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath ^(F)he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought ^(G)down to the ground ^(H)in dishonor
    the kingdom ^(I)and its rulers.

³ He has cut down in ^(J)fierce anger
    all ^(K)the might of Israel;
^(L)he has withdrawn from them his right hand
    in the face of the enemy;
^(M)he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
    consuming all around.

^4 (N)He has bent his bow like an enemy,
    with his right hand set ^(O)like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
    in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

^5 (P)The Lord has become like an enemy;
    ^(Q)he has swallowed up Israel;
^(R)he has swallowed up all its palaces;
    he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
    ^(S)mourning and lamentation.

⁶ He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
    laid in ruins ^(T)his meeting place;
^(U)the Lord has made Zion forget
    festival and ^(V)Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

^7 (W)The Lord has scorned his altar,
    ^(X)disowned his sanctuary;
^(Y)he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
    the walls of her palaces;
^(Z)they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of festival.

^8 (AA)The Lord determined to lay in ruins
    ^(AB)the wall of the daughter of Zion;
^(AC)he stretched out the measuring line;
    he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
^(AD)he caused rampart and wall to lament;
    ^(AE)they languished together.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground;
    ^(AF)he has ruined ^(AG)and broken her bars;
^(AH)her king and princes are among the nations;
    the law is no more,
and ^(AI)her prophets find
    no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of the daughter of Zion
    ^(AJ)sit on the ground ^(AK)in silence;
^(AL)they have thrown dust on their heads
    and ^(AM)put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.

^11 (AN)My eyes are spent with weeping;
    ^(AO)my stomach churns;
^(AP)my bile is poured out to the ground
    ^(AQ)because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
^(AR)because infants and babies ^(AS)faint
    in the streets of the city.

¹² They cry to their mothers,
    ^(AT)“Where is bread and wine?”
^(AU)as they faint like a wounded man
    in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
    on their mothers' bosom.

¹³ What can I say for you, ^(AV)to what compare you,
    O daughter of Jerusalem?
^(AW)What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
    O virgin daughter of Zion?
^(AX)For your ruin is vast as the sea;
    who can heal you?

^14 (AY)Your prophets have seen for you
    false and deceptive visions;
^(AZ)they have not exposed your iniquity
    to ^(BA)restore your fortunes,
^(BB)but have seen for you ^(BC)oracles
    that are false and misleading.

¹⁵ All who pass along the way
    clap their hands at you;
^(BD)they hiss and wag their heads
    at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
    ^(BE)the perfection of beauty,
    ^(BF)the joy of all the earth?”

^16 (BG)All your enemies
    rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
    they cry: “We ^(BH)have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
    now we have it; ^(BI)we see it!”

¹⁷ The Lord has done what he purposed;
    he has carried out ^(BJ)his word,
which he commanded ^(BK)long ago;
    ^(BL)he has thrown down ^(BM)without pity;
^(BN)he has made the enemy rejoice over you
    and exalted the ^(BO)might of your foes.

¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord.
    O ^(BP)wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(BQ)let tears stream down like a torrent
    ^(BR)day and night!
^(BS)Give yourself no rest,
    ^(BT)your eyes no respite!

¹⁹ “Arise, ^(BU)cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
^(BV)Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord!
^(BW)Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
^(BX)who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.”

²⁰ Look, O Lord, and see!
    ^(BY)With whom have you dealt thus?
^(BZ)Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
    the children of ^(CA)their tender care?
Should ^(CB)priest and prophet be killed
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹ In the dust of the streets
    ^(CC)lie the young and the old;
^(CD)my young women and my young men
    have fallen by the sword;
^(CE)you have killed them in the day of your anger,
    slaughtering ^(CF)without pity.

²² You summoned as if to ^(CG)a festival day
    ^(CH)my terrors on every side,
^(CI)and on the day of the anger of the Lord
    no one escaped or survived;
^(CJ)those whom I held and raised
    my enemy destroyed.

^(Z)“Their voice has gone out ^(AA)to all the earth,
    and their words to the ends of the world.”

^(AB)“I will ^(AC)make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
    with a ^(AD)foolish nation I will make you angry.”

^(AE)“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”