ח KhetBecause of the Lord’s faithful love
we do not perish,
for His mercies never end.

ב BetHe has worn away my flesh and skin;
He has shattered my bones.

How she sits alone,
the city once crowded with people!
She who was great among the nations
has become like a widow.
The princess among the provinces
has been put to forced labor.

He has laid siege against me,
encircling me with bitterness and hardship.

ג GimelJudah has gone into exile
following affliction and harsh slavery;
she lives among the nations
but finds no place to rest.
All her pursuers have overtaken her
in narrow places.

ה HeHer adversaries have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease,
for the Lord has made her suffer
because of her many transgressions.
Her children have gone away
as captives before the adversary.

ד DaletThe roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the appointed festivals.
All her gates are deserted;
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she herself is bitter.

ג GimelHe has cut off every horn of Israel
in His burning anger
and withdrawn His right hand
in the presence of the enemy.
He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything.

ה HeThose who used to eat delicacies
are destitute in the streets;
those who were reared in purple garments
huddle in garbage heaps.

ו VavAll her splendor has vanished
from Daughter Zion.
Her leaders are like stags
that find no pasture;
they walk away exhausted
before the hunter.

ז ZayinDuring the days of her affliction and homelessness
Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the adversary’s hand,
she had no one to help.
The adversaries looked at her,
laughing over her downfall.

He has made me dwell in darkness
like those who have been dead for ages.

ח KhetJerusalem has sinned grievously;
therefore, she has become an object of scorn.
All who honored her now despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness.
She herself groans and turns away.

י YodThe adversary has seized
all her precious belongings.
She has even seen the nations
enter her sanctuary—
those You had forbidden
to enter Your assembly.

כ KafAll her people groan
while they search for bread.
They have traded their precious belongings for food
in order to stay alive.
Lord, look and see
how I have become despised.

ט TetHer uncleanness stains her skirts.
She never considered her end.
Her downfall was astonishing;
there was no one to comfort her.
Lord, look on my affliction,
for the enemy triumphs!

ו VavThe punishment of my dear people
is greater than that of Sodom,
which was overthrown in an instant
without a hand laid on it.

ל LamedIs this nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see!
Is there any pain like mine,
which was dealt out to me,
which the Lord made me suffer
on the day of His burning anger?

נ NunMy transgressions have been formed into a yoke,
fastened together by His hand;
they have been placed on my neck,
and the Lord has broken my strength.
He has handed me over
to those I cannot withstand.

ת TavLet all their wickedness come before You,
and deal with them
as You have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions.
For my groans are many,
and I am sick at heart.

צ TsadeThe Lord is just,
for I have rebelled against His command.
Listen, all you people;
look at my pain.
My young men and women
have gone into captivity.

ג GimelHe has walled me in so I cannot escape;
He has weighed me down with chains.

ס SamekThe Lord has rejected
all the mighty men within me.
He has summoned an army against me
to crush my young warriors.
The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah
like grapes in a winepress.

מ MemHe sent fire from heaven into my bones;
He made it descend.
He spread a net for my feet
and turned me back.
He made me desolate,
sick all day long.

ע AyinI weep because of these things;
my eyes flow with tears.
For there is no one nearby to comfort me,
no one to keep me alive.
My children are desolate
because the enemy has prevailed.

פ PeZion stretches out her hands;
there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his adversaries.
Jerusalem has become
something impure among them.

שׁ ShinPeople have heard me groaning,
but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my misfortune;
they are glad that You have caused it.
Bring on the day You have announced,
so that they may become like me.

He has walled in my ways with cut stones;
He has made my paths crooked.

ד DaletHe has bent His bow like an enemy;
His right hand is positioned like an adversary.
He has killed everyone who was loved,
pouring out His wrath like fire
on the tent of Daughter Zion.

ק QofI called to my lovers,
but they betrayed me.
My priests and elders
perished in the city
while searching for food
to keep themselves alive.

ר ReshLord, see how I am in distress.
I am churning within;
my heart is broken,
for I have been very rebellious.
Outside, the sword takes the children;
inside, there is death.

ח KhetNow they appear darker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become dry like wood.

Even when I cry out and plead for help,
He rejects my prayer.

We made a treaty with Egypt
and with Assyria, to get enough food.

ה HeThe Lord is like an enemy;
He has swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all its palaces
and destroyed its fortified cities.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
within Daughter Judah.

ו VavHe has done violence to His temple
as if it were a garden booth,
destroying His place of meeting.
The Lord has abolished
appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion.
He has despised king and priest
in His fierce anger.

He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;
He left me desolate.

ד DaletHe is a bear waiting in ambush,
a lion in hiding.

ז ZayinHer dignitaries were brighter than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
their appearance like sapphire.

He strung His bow
and set me as the target for His arrow.

ז ZayinThe Lord has rejected His altar,
repudiated His sanctuary;
He has handed the walls of her palaces
over to the enemy.
They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival.

I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath.

ז ZayinRemember my affliction and my homelessness,
the wormwood and the poison.

Our fathers sinned; they no longer exist,
but we bear their punishment.

I am a laughingstock to all my people,
mocked by their songs all day long.

י YodThe elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence.
They have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.

ח KhetThe Lord determined to destroy
the wall of Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
and did not restrain Himself from destroying.
He made the ramparts and walls grieve;
together they waste away.

ט TetZion’s gates have fallen to the ground;
He has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.
Her king and her leaders live among the nations,
instruction is no more,
and even her prophets receive
no vision from the Lord.

My soul has been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is.

ה HeHe pierced my kidneys
with His arrows.

ט TetThe Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the person who seeks Him.

They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness!

ס SamekAll who pass by
scornfully clap their hands at you.
They mock and shake their heads
at Daughter Jerusalem:
Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth?

Then I thought: My future is lost,
as well as my hope from the Lord.

ל LamedThey cry out to their mothers:
Where is the grain and wine?
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives fade away
in the arms of their mothers.

ו VavHe ground my teeth on gravel
and made me cower in the dust.

פ PeAll your enemies
open their mouths against you.
They hiss and gnash their teeth,
saying, “We have swallowed her up.
This is the day we have waited for!
We have lived to see it.”

ט TetThose slain by the sword are better off
than those slain by hunger,
who waste away, pierced with pain
because the fields lack produce.

ק QofArise, cry out in the night
from the first watch of the night.
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord’s presence.
Lift up your hands to Him
for the lives of your children
who are fainting from hunger
on the corner of every street.

כ KafMy eyes are worn out from weeping;
I am churning within.
My heart is poured out in grief
because of the destruction of my dear people,
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.

I continually remember them
and have become depressed.

י YodThe hands of compassionate women
have cooked their own children;
they became their food
during the destruction of my dear people.

He filled me with bitterness,
satiated me with wormwood.

מ MemWhat can I say on your behalf?
What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem?
What can I liken you to,
so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion?
For your ruin is as vast as the sea.
Who can heal you?

Slaves rule over us;
no one rescues us from their hands.

It is good to wait quietly
for deliverance from the Lord.

How the Lord has overshadowed
Daughter Zion with His anger!
He has thrown down Israel’s glory
from heaven to earth.
He has abandoned His footstool
in the day of His anger.

נ NunYour prophets saw visions for you
that were empty and deceptive;
they did not reveal your guilt
and so restore your fortunes.
They saw oracles for you
that were empty and misleading.

כ KafFor the Lord
will not reject us forever.

כ KafThe Lord has exhausted His wrath,
poured out His burning anger;
He has ignited a fire in Zion,
and it has consumed her foundations.

I say: The Lord is my portion,
therefore I will put my hope in Him.

We secure our food at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the wilderness.

ע AyinThe Lord has done what He planned;
He has accomplished His decree,
which He ordained in days of old.
He has demolished without compassion,
letting the enemy gloat over you
and exalting the horn of your adversaries.

Women are raped in Zion,
girls in the cities of Judah.

ר ReshLord, look and consider
who You have done this to.
Should women eat their own children,
the infants they have nurtured?
Should priests and prophets
be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?

He has driven me away and forced me to walk
in darkness instead of light.

Our skin is as hot as an oven
from the ravages of hunger.

Yes, He repeatedly turns His hand
against me all day long.

שׁ ShinBoth young and old
are lying on the ground in the streets.
My young men and women
have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of Your anger,
slaughtering without compassion.

Let him offer his cheek
to the one who would strike him;
let him be filled with shame.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is still young.

ל LamedThe kings of the earth
and all the world’s inhabitants did not believe
that an enemy or adversary
could enter Jerusalem’s gates.

י YodLet him sit alone and be silent,
for God has disciplined him.

ב BetWithout compassion the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob.
In His wrath He has demolished
the fortified cities of Daughter Judah.
He brought them to the ground
and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.

מ MemYet it happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the guilt of her priests,
who shed the blood of the righteous
within her.

ת TavYou summoned my attackers on every side,
as if for an appointed festival day;
on the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped or survived.
My enemy has destroyed
those I nurtured and reared.

שׂ SinSo rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom,
you resident of the land of Uz!
Yet the cup will pass to you as well;
you will get drunk and expose yourself.

ר ReshThe Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life,
was captured in their traps.
We had said about him,
“We will live under his protection among the nations.”

צ TsadeThe hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.
Wall of Daughter Zion,
let your tears run down like a river
day and night.
Give yourself no relief
and your eyes no rest.

How the gold has become tarnished,
the fine gold become dull!
The stones of the temple lie scattered
at the corner of every street.

Lord, restore us to Yourself, so we may return;
renew our days as in former times,

Let him put his mouth in the dust—
perhaps there is still hope.

נ NunBlind, they stumbled in the streets,
defiled by this blood,
so that no one dared
to touch their garments.

Joy has left our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.

Young men labor at millstones;
boys stumble under loads of wood.

Princes are hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.

ת TavDaughter Zion, your punishment is complete;
He will not lengthen your exile.
But He will punish your iniquity, Daughter Edom,
and will expose your sins.

ס Samek“Stay away! Unclean!” people shouted at them.
“Away, away! Don’t touch us!”
So they wandered aimlessly.
It was said among the nations,
“They can stay here no longer.”

ד DaletThe nursing infant’s tongue
clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst.
Little children beg for bread,
but no one gives them any.

ע AyinAll the while our eyes were failing
as we looked in vain for assistance;
we watched from our towers
for a nation that refused to help.

Yahweh, remember what has happened to us.
Look, and see our disgrace!

פ PeThe Lord Himself has scattered them;
He regards them no more.
The priests are not respected;
the elders find no favor.

ג GimelEven jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my dear people have become cruel
like ostriches in the wilderness.

ב BetZion’s precious people—
once worth their weight in pure gold—
how they are regarded as clay jars,
the work of a potter’s hands!

צ TsadeOur steps were closely followed
so that we could not walk in our streets.
Our end drew near; our time ran out.
Our end had come!

because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate
and has jackals prowling in it.

unless You have completely rejected us
and are intensely angry with us.

The elders have left the city gate,
the young men, their music.

You, Lord, are enthroned forever;
Your throne endures from generation to generation.

Because of this, our heart is sick;
because of these, our eyes grow dim:

ק QofThose who chased us were swifter
than eagles in the sky;
they relentlessly pursued us over the mountains
and ambushed us in the wilderness.

The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned.

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our houses to foreigners.

Why have You forgotten us forever,
abandoned us for our entire lives?

We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are widows.

We are closely pursued;
we are tired, and no one offers us rest.

We must pay for the water we drink;
our wood comes at a price.

ב BetShe weeps aloud during the night,
with tears on her cheeks.
There is no one to offer her comfort,
not one from all her lovers.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.

Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

מ MemWho is there who speaks and it happens,
unless the Lord has ordained it?

נ NunLet us search out and examine our ways,
and turn back to the Lord.

Do not both adversity and good
come from the mouth of the Most High?

Even if He causes suffering,
He will show compassion
according to His abundant, faithful love.

ל LamedCrushing all the prisoners of the land
beneath one’s feet,

For He does not enjoy bringing affliction
or suffering on mankind.

Why should any living person complain,
any man, because of the punishment for his sins?

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven:

denying justice to a man
in the presence of the Most High,

ק QofI called on Your name, Yahweh,
from the depths of the Pit.

You come near when I call on You;
You say: “Do not be afraid.”

or suppressing a person’s lawsuit—
the Lord does not approve of these things.

ס SamekYou have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;
You have killed without compassion.

You have made us disgusting filth
among the peoples.

My eyes bring me grief
because of the fate of all the women in my city.

My eyes flow with streams of tears
because of the destruction of my dear people.

ר ReshYou defend my cause, Lord;
You redeem my life.

צ TsadeFor no apparent reason, my enemies
hunted me like a bird.

We have sinned and rebelled;
You have not forgiven.

ע AyinMy eyes overflow unceasingly,
without end,

You have covered Yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.

פ PeAll our enemies
open their mouths against us.

We have experienced panic and pitfall,
devastation and destruction.

They dropped me alive into a pit
and threw stones at me.

ת TavYou will pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
according to the work of their hands.

The slander and murmuring of my opponents
attack me all day long.

You hear my plea:
Do not ignore my cry for relief.

You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
under Your heavens.

Water flooded over my head,
and I thought: I’m going to die!

until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.

שׂ Sin/ שׁ ShinLord, You hear their insults,
all their plots against me.

When they sit and when they rise, look,
I am mocked by their songs.

You see all their malice,
all their plots against me.

You will give them a heart filled with anguish.
May Your curse be on them!

Lord, You see the wrong done to me;
judge my case.