Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, and to turn away Your wrath from them.
For I heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce him. Yes, denounce him!” All my familiar friends who watch for my fall, say, “Perhaps he will be enticed so that we can prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, and the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, “Ah, woe is me, for my soul is wearied because of murderers.”
O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth and wallow in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.