O daughter of my people, gird {thee} with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, {as for} an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, {that there shall be} the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.

Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves {in the ashes}, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. {the days...: Heb. your days for slaughter} {a pleasant...: Heb. a vessel of desire}

A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts {are} against me for evil.

Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. {Lift...: Heb. Cry shrill with}

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, {and} the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, {that} bewaileth herself, {that} spreadeth her hands, {saying}, Woe {is} me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

A voice of crying {shall be} from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction.

Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.

They also that seek after my life lay snares {for me}: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.

For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, {say they}, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, {saying}, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. {All...: Heb. Every man of my peace}

Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, {and} to turn away thy wrath from them.

And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any {man}: for thou regardest not the person of men.

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. {all that...: Heb. the fulness thereof}

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. {my very...: Heb. the walls of my heart}

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

For among my people are found wicked {men}: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. {they lay...: or, they pry as fowlers lie in wait}

The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.

And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;

That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.

Keep me from the snares {which} they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.

Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, {and} to turn away thy wrath from them.

The proud have digged pits for me, which {are} not after thy law.

Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig {a pit} for your friend. {ye overwhelm: Heb. ye cause to fall upon}

Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;