“Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ¹  You delivered me ²  from the pit of oblivion. ³  For you removed all my sins from your sight. ⁴ 

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you ¹  will groan ²  when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

ד (Dalet) The roads to Zion ¹  mourn ²  because no one ³  travels to the festivals. ⁴  All her city gates ⁵  are deserted; ⁶  her priests groan. ⁷  Her virgins grieve; ⁸  she is in bitter anguish! ⁹ 

“And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, ¹  and on the earth nations will be in distress, ²  anxious ³  over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves.

Then ¹  the fifth angel ²  poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast so that ³  darkness covered his kingdom, ⁴  and people ⁵  began to bite ⁶  their tongues because ⁷  of their pain.

“You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea. ¹ 

For my sighing comes in place of ¹  my food, ²  and my groanings ³  flow forth like water. ⁴ 

“Oh, ¹  if only my grief ²  could be weighed, ³  and my misfortune laid ⁴  on the scales too! ⁵ 

Do you intend to criticize mere words, and treat ¹  the words of a despairing man as wind?

Why do you pursue me like God does? ¹  Will you never be satiated with my flesh? ² 

I am numb with pain and severely battered; ¹  I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. ² 

I was stone silent; ¹  I held back the urge to speak. ²  My frustration grew; ³ 

Then I said, “I am sickened by the thought that the sovereign One ¹  might become inactive. ² 

In my distress ¹  I cried out to the Lord. The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place. ² 

Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, ¹  and wine to those who are bitterly distressed; ² 

The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured. Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations.” ¹ 

Cries of anguish will come from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

“And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart ¹  and bitterness; groan before their eyes.

I see the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble; ¹  the tent curtains of the land of Midian are shaking. ² 

He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and became anguished and distressed.