JEREMIAH’S LAMENT

14 May the day I was born

be cursed.a

May the day my mother bore me

never be blessed.

15 May the man be cursed

who brought the news to my father, saying,

“A male child is born to you,”

bringing him great joy.

16 Let that man be like the cities

the Lord demolished without compassion.b

Let him hear an outcry in the morningc

and a war cry at noontime

17 because he didn’t kill me in the wombd

so that my mother might have been my grave,

her womb eternally pregnant.

18 Why did I come out of the womb

to see only struggle and sorrow,e

to end my life in shame?