During the evening, morning, and noontime I will lament and moan, ¹  and he will hear ²  me. ³ 

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Lament, ¹  you residents of the coast, you merchants of Sidon ²  who travel over the sea, whose agents sail over

Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ¹  family ²  of Israel:

‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ¹  we wailed in mourning, ²  yet you did not weep.’

and began to shout ¹  when they saw the smoke from the fire that burned her up, ²  “Who is like the great city?”

“Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: “‘You were like a lion ¹  among the nations, but you are a monster in the seas; you thrash about in your streams, stir up the water with your feet, and muddy your ²  streams.

In that day people will sing this taunt song to you – they will mock you with this lament: ¹  ‘We are completely destroyed; they sell off ²  the property of my people. How they remove it from me! ³  They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ ⁴ 

There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, ¹  nor ever will be again. ² 

The people ¹  who did not die were struck with sores; the city’s cry for help went all the way up to heaven.

David then grabbed his own clothes ¹  and tore them, as did all the men who were with him.

So they buried Abner in Hebron. The king cried loudly ¹  over Abner’s grave and all the people wept too.

You keep track of my misery. ¹  Put my tears in your leather container! ²  Are they not recorded in your scroll? ³ 

For the music director; a psalm of David. Listen to me, ²  O God, as I offer my lament! Protect ³  my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks. ⁴ 

Their insults are painful ¹  and make me lose heart; ²  I look ³  for sympathy, but receive none, ⁴  for comforters, but find none.

I will threaten Ariel, and she will mourn intensely and become like an altar hearth ¹  before me.

I said, “Indeed, ¹  let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water.

They will lay it waste. It will lie parched ¹  and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed. ² 

“The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. ¹  Cries of distress come up to me ²  from Jerusalem. ³ 

The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning. The people of Ashkelon will be struck dumb. How long will you gash yourselves to show your sorrow, ¹  you who remain of Philistia’s power? ²