“So, Jeremiah, speak your message of sorrow over them: “ ‘My eyes gush with tears day and night. I can’t stop weeping over all that my people have suffered. For my beloved people have suffered a great wound and are left grievously injured. They are as precious to me as a young daughter.
I heard a cry of a woman gasping in labor pains; I saw her writhing in distress as one giving birth to her first child. It is the daughter of Zion, gasping and stretching out her hands for help, saying: “I’m staring at death! I’m fainting before my murderers!”
She is weeping bitterly through the night, with tears streaming down her cheeks. Among all her lovers, not one can be found to comfort her. Her friends have all betrayed her and have now become her enemies.
Yahweh, you are the only hope of Israel! All who forsake you will be covered with shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dirt. To forsake you, Yahweh, is to forsake the fountain of living waters.
With gut-wrenching pain deep in my soul, I writhe on the ground in anguish. My heart is pounding within me. I cannot keep silent, for I hear the shofar blast. I say to my soul, I hear the cry of war!
Lord, what wounds me most is that it’s somehow my fault that you’ve changed your heart toward me and I no longer see the years of the Mighty One or your right hand of power.
Our guilty sins cry out against us; in our rebellion, time and time again, we have sinned against you. Yahweh, do something to help us, for the sake of your honor.