³¹ I hear a cry like a woman in labor,^(A)
a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.
The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands:^(B)
“Woe is me, for my life is weary
because of the murderers!”

¹⁷ You are to speak this word to them:
Let my eyes overflow with tears;
day and night may they not stop,^(A)
for my dearest people^[a]
have been destroyed by a crushing blow,^(B)
an extremely severe wound.^(C)