(Tet) Her menstrual flow has soiled her clothing; she did not consider the consequences of her sin. Her demise was astonishing, and there was no one to comfort her. She cried, "Look, O Lord, on my affliction because my enemy boasts!"

(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.

(Mem) He sent down fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He spread out a trapper's net for my feet; he made me turn back. He has made me desolate; I am faint all day long.

(Nun) My sins are bound around my neck like a yoke; they are fastened together by his hand. He has placed his yoke on my neck; he has sapped my strength. The Lord has handed me over to those whom I cannot resist.

(Samek) He rounded up all my mighty ones; The Lord did this in my midst. He summoned an assembly against me to shatter my young men. The Lord has stomped like grapes the virgin daughter, Judah.

(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.

(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.

(Qof) I called for my lovers, but they had deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city. Truly they had searched for food to keep themselves alive.

(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.

(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.

(Sin/Shin) The young boys and old men lie dead on the ground in the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them when you were angry; you slaughtered them without mercy.

(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.

He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light.

He repeatedly attacks me, he turns his hand against me all day long.

(Bet) He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones.

He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship.

He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago.

(Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.

Also, when I cry out desperately for help, he has shut out my prayer.

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

He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate.

He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrow.

(He) He shot his arrows into my heart.

He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness.

(Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust.

So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord."

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

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

Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.

(Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break

What my eyes see grieves me -- all the suffering of the daughters in my city.

(Tsade) For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird.

They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me.

The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.

You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!"

(Resh) O Lord, you championed my cause, you redeemed my life.

You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!

You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.

(Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.

My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.

Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them!

(Gimel) Even the jackals nurse their young at their breast, but my people are cruel, like ostriches in the desert.

(Vav) The punishment of my people exceeded that of of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no one to help her.

(Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed.

(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."

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