Crying Out

18 Let your heart cry out to the Lord. O wall of the people of Zion, let your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let your eyes stop crying. 19 Get up and cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night hours. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are weak with hunger on every street.” 20 See, O Lord, and look! To whom have You done this? 

zaaq: To cry out, to call for help, to shout

The verb conveys an urgent, often loud appeal for help or justice. It can describe a distressed shout, a summons for aid, or an appeal presented in a formal complaint. About seventy-two occurrences span the Pentateuch, Historical Books, Wisdom Literature, and Prophets, revealing consistent theological contours: human need, divine attentiveness, and covenantal intervention.

(Strong's Hebrew)

"Prophetic texts stress that unrepentant cries (Jeremiah 11:11, Zechariah 7:13) meet divine silence, underscoring moral accountability."  (Also Strong's Hebrew)

13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 7:13)

(Jeremiah 11:11 does not seem applicable to today, but oh my, Zechariah 7:13 does.)