(Dalet) The roads to Zion mourn because no one travels to the festivals. All her city gates are deserted; her priests groan. Her virgins grieve; she is in bitter anguish!

(Yod) An enemy grabbed all her valuables. Indeed she watched in horror as Gentiles invaded her holy temple -- those whom you had commanded: "They must not enter your assembly place."

(Lamed) Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by on the road? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord has afflicted me, he has inflicted it on me when he burned with anger.

(Ayin) I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one in sight who can comfort me or encourage me. My children are desolated because an enemy has prevailed.

(Pe) Zion spread out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob; his neighbors have become his enemies. Jerusalem has become like filthy garbage in their midst.

(Tsade) The Lord is right to judge me! Yes, I rebelled against his commands. Please listen, all you nations, and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile.

(Resh) Look, O Lord! I am distressed; my stomach is in knots! My heart is pounding inside me. Yes, I was terribly rebellious! Out in the street the sword bereaves a mother of her children; Inside the house death is present.

(Sin/Shin) They have heard that I groan, yet there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have brought it about. Bring about the day of judgment that you promised so that they may end up like me!

(Tav) Let all their wickedness come before you; afflict them just as you have afflicted me because of all my acts of rebellion. For my groans are many, and my heart is sick with sorrow.

(Gimel) In fierce anger he destroyed the whole army of Israel. He withdrew his right hand as the enemy attacked. He was like a raging fire in the land of Jacob; it consumed everything around it.

(Vav) He destroyed his temple as if it were a vineyard; he destroyed his appointed meeting place. The Lord has made those in Zion forget both the festivals and the Sabbaths. In his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.

(Zayin) The Lord rejected his altar and abhorred his temple. He handed over to the enemy her palace walls; the enemy shouted in the Lord's temple as if it were a feast day.

(Tet) Her city gates have fallen to the ground; he smashed to bits the bars that lock her gates. Her king and princes were taken into exile; there is no more guidance available. As for her prophets, they no longer receive a vision from the Lord.

(Kaf) My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach is in knots. My heart is poured out on the ground due to the destruction of my helpless people; children and infants faint in the town squares.

(Mem) With what can I equate you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you so that I might comfort you, O Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?

(Nun) Your prophets saw visions for you that were worthless lies. They failed to expose your sin so as to restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were worthless lies.

(Samek) All who passed by on the road clapped their hands to mock you. They sneered and shook their heads at Daughter Jerusalem. "Ha! Is this the city they called 'The perfection of beauty, the source of joy of the whole earth!'?"

(Tav) As if it were a feast day, you call enemies to terrify me on every side. On the day of the Lord's anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has finished off those healthy infants whom I bore and raised.

(Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey.

I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is.

(Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison.

They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!

"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

(Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.

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

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

(Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the Lord is disciplining him.

Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope.

(Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever.

Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.

For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people.

(Mem) Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it?

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes -- both calamity and blessing?

(Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.

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

(Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy.

You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations.

(Pe) All our enemies have gloated over us;

Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.

(Khet) Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.

(Samek) People cry to them, "Turn away! You are unclean! Turn away! Turn away! Don't touch us!" So they have fled and wander about; but the nations say, "They may not stay here any longer."

(Ayin) Our eyes continually failed us as we looked in vain for help. From our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not rescue us.

(Tsade) Our enemies hunted us down at every step so that we could not walk about in our streets. Our end drew near, our days were numbered, for our end had come!

(Qof) Those who pursued us were swifter than eagles in the sky. They chased us over the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.

(Sin/Shin) Rejoice and be glad for now, O people of Edom, who reside in the land of Uz. But the cup of judgment will pass to you also; you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

O Lord, reflect on what has happened to us; consider and look at our disgrace.

Our inheritance is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes.

Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power.

Our skin is hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger.

Our hearts no longer have any joy; our dancing is turned to mourning.

The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long?

Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return to you; renew our life as in days before,

unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.