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.

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.

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!

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?

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.

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.

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and withdrawn His right hand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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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