(Bet) She weeps bitterly at night; tears stream down her cheeks. She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

{Gimel} Judah is taken prisoner, because she was defiled: and for serving so many strange gods, she dwelleth now among the heathen. She findeth no rest: all they that persecuted her, took her in strait places where she could not escape.

(Vav) All of Daughter Zion's splendor has departed. Her leaders became like deer; they found no pasture, so they were too exhausted to escape from the hunter.

(Zayin) Jerusalem remembers, when she became a poor homeless person, all her treasures that she owned in days of old. When her people fell into an enemy's grip, none of her allies came to her rescue. Her enemies gloated over her; they sneered at her downfall.

(Khet) Jerusalem committed terrible sin; therefore she became an object of scorn. All who admired her have despised her because they have seen her nakedness. She groans aloud and turns away in shame.

(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."

All her people groan, seeking bread;
They have exchanged their desirable and precious things for food
To restore their lives.
“See, O Lord, and consider
How despised and repulsive I have become!”

(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.

Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, that they that are round about him should be his adversaries: Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.

(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.

(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!

The Lord has rejected His altar;
He has abandoned His sanctuary.
He has given into the hand of the enemy
The walls of her palaces;
They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on a day of an appointed feast.

(Khet) The Lord was determined to tear down Daughter Zion's wall. He prepared to knock it down; he did not withdraw his hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and fortified walls lament; together they mourned their ruin.

(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.

(Yod) The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dirt on their heads; They have dressed in sackcloth. Jerusalem's young women stare down at the ground.

(Lamed) Children say to their mothers, "Where are food and drink?" They faint like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly in their mothers' arms.

(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!'?"

(Pe) All your enemies gloated over you. They sneered and gnashed their teeth; they said, "We have destroyed her! Ha! We have waited a long time for this day. We have lived to see it!"

(Qof) Get up! Cry out in the night when the night watches start! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift up your hands to him for your children's lives; they are fainting at every street corner.

See, O Lord, and look!
With whom have You dealt this way?
Should women eat their offspring,
The little ones who were born healthy and beautiful?
Should priest and prophet be killed
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

They lie in [the] soil of [the] streets, young and old; my young women and young men, they have fallen by the sword; you have slain on the day of {your anger}, you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.

Thou dost call as at a day of appointment, My fears from round about, And there hath not been in the day of the anger of Jehovah, An escaped and remaining one, They whom I stretched out and nourished, My enemy hath consumed!

He hath set me in darkness, as they that be dead forever.

I am laughed to scorn of all my people; they make songs upon me all the day long.

The lovingkindnesses of Yahweh, verily they are not exhausted, Verily! not at an end, are his compassions:

They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!

My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest,

They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird;

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

They poured water upon my head, then thought I, "Now am I undone."

You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me.

The lips of mine enemies, and their devices that they take against me, all the day long.

Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song.

(Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done.

(Bet) The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in gold -- Alas! -- but now they are treated like broken clay pots, made by a potter.

Even the jackals offer the breast,
They nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people has become cruel
Like ostriches in the wilderness [that desert their young].

Cleaved hath the tongue of a suckling unto his palate with thirst, Infants asked bread, a dealer out they have none.

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

Her princes were purer than snow,
They were whiter than milk [in appearance];
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Their polishing was like lapis lazuli (sapphire).

(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.

Those killed with the sword
Are more fortunate than those killed with hunger;
For the hungry pine and ebb away,
For the lack of the fruits of the field.

The hands of compassionate women
Boiled their own children;
They became food for them
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Judah].

(Nun) They wander blindly through the streets, defiled by the blood they shed, while no one dares to touch their garments.

(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."

(Pe) The Lord himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. They did not honor the priests; they did not show favor to the elders.

They go after our steps so that we may not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are numbered; for our end has 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.

We are pursued -- they are breathing down our necks; we are weary and have no rest.

Our fathers have sinned, and they are not; and we bear their iniquities.

They raped women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.

Princes were hung by their hands;
Elders were not respected.

they have taken young men's lives from them, and the boys are hanged up upon trees.