The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!

I yearn for the Lord, ¹  more than watchmen do for the morning, yes, more than watchmen do for the morning. ² 

The night watchmen found me – the ones who guard the city walls. ¹  “Have you seen my beloved?” ² 

All their watchmen ¹  are blind, they are unaware. ²  All of them are like mute dogs, unable to bark. They pant, ³  lie down, and love to snooze.

I ¹  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they should keep praying all day and all night. ²  You who pray to ³  the Lord, don’t be silent!

The Lord said, ¹  “I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, ²  saying: ‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’” ³  But they said, “We will not pay attention!”

Listen, ¹  your watchmen shout; in unison they shout for joy, for they see with their very own eyes ²  the Lord’s return to Zion.

Yes, a time is coming when watchmen ¹  will call out on the mountains of Ephraim, “Come! Let us go to Zion to worship the Lord our God!”’” ² 

Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ¹  looked on ²  as the crowd of soldiers seemed to melt away first in one direction and then in another. ³ 

The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ¹  The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²  and then you will experience confusion. ³ 

Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! ¹  Bring more guards! ²  Post them all around the city! ³  Put men in ambush! ⁴  For the Lord will do what he has planned. He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. ⁵ 

The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. ¹  They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. ² 

They will surround Jerusalem ¹  like men guarding a field ²  because they have rebelled against me,” says the Lord.

He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress. ¹ 

The Lord spoke ¹  to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse. ² 

So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes. Jeremiah, however, still remained confined ¹  to the courtyard of the guardhouse.

So Jeremiah remained confined ¹  in the courtyard of the guardhouse until the day Jerusalem ²  was captured.The following events occurred when Jerusalem ³  was captured. ⁴ 

¹ Now the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse, ² 

Pilate said to them, “Take ¹  a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.”

So ¹  they went with the soldiers ²  of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.