you built yourself a chamber ¹  and put up a pavilion ²  in every public square.

I will put it into the hand of your tormentors ¹  who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walked over you.”

Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread ¹  be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept ²  in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

ק (Qof) Get up! Cry out in the night ¹  when the night watches start! ²  Pour out your heart ³  like water before the face of the Lord! ⁴  Lift up your hands ⁵  to him for your children’s lives; ⁶  they are fainting ⁷  at every street corner. ⁸ 

They got up at dawn and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up, so I can send you on your way.” So Saul got up and the two of them – he and Samuel – went outside.

Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger, by the battle cry of your God. ¹ 

I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, ¹  I am tired of trying to hold it in.” The Lord answered, ²  “Vent it, then, ³  on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, ⁴  as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues ¹  and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

The old man said, “Everything is just fine! ¹  I will take care of all your needs. But don’t spend the night in the town square.”

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! I am distressed; ¹  my stomach is in knots! ²  My heart is pounding ³  inside me. Yes, I was terribly rebellious! ⁴  Out in the street the sword bereaves a mother of her children; ⁵  Inside the house death is present. ⁶ 

When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square, ¹ 

So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’

This is in spite of the fact that ¹  the people of Judah have as many gods as they have towns ²  and the citizens of Jerusalem have set up as many altars to sacrifice to that disgusting god, Baal, as they have streets in the city!’ ³ 

The sword will make people childless outside, and terror will do so inside; they will destroy ¹  both the young man and the virgin, the infant and the gray-haired man.

I grind them as fine as the dust of the ground; I crush them and stomp on them like clay ¹  in the streets.

Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. ¹ 

So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth.

So Hathach went to Mordecai at the plaza of the city in front of the king’s gate.

Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, ¹  they scoff at me. ² 

They live out ¹  their years in prosperity and go down ²  to the grave ³  in peace.