Good should not be paid back with evil. They dig a pit to take my life. Remember how I stood in your presence and pleaded for them in order to turn your anger away from them.
I have heard many ⌞people⌟ whispering, “Terror is everywhere! Report him! Let’s report him!” All my closest friends are waiting to see me stumble. They say, “Maybe he will be tricked. Then we can overpower him and take revenge on him.”
I hear a woman in labor. I hear the woman cry with anguish as she gives birth to her first child. My people Zion are gasping for breath. They are stretching out their hands, saying, “How horrible it is for us! We’re defenseless in the presence of murderers!”
Wear sackcloth, and roll around in ashes, my people. Mourn as if you have lost your only child, and cry bitterly. The destroyer will suddenly attack us.