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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.”

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.

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

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

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

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

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

כ KafFor the Lord
will not reject us forever.

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,

פ PeAll our enemies
open their mouths against us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.