LAMENT OVER JERUSALEM

א Aleph

1 How* she sits alone,a

the cityb once crowded with people!

She who was great among the nations

has become like a widow.c

The princess among the provinces

has been put to forced labor.

ב Beth

2 She weeps bitterly during the night,d

with tears on her cheeks.

There is no one to offer her comfort,

not one from all her lovers.B,e

All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

ג Gimel

3 Judah has gone into exile

followingC affliction and harsh slavery;

she lives among the nations

but finds no place to rest.f

All her pursuers have overtaken her

in narrow places.

ד Daleth

4 The roads to Ziong mourn,

for no one comes to the appointed festivals.h

All her gates are deserted;

her priests groan,

her young women grieve,

and she herself is bitter.

ה He

5 Her adversaries have become her masters;i

her enemies are at ease,j

for the Lord has made her suffer

because of her many transgressions.

Her children have gone away

as captives before the adversary.

ו Waw

6 All the splendork has vanished

from Daughter Zion.l

Her leaders are like stags

that find no pasture;

they stumble away exhausted

before the hunter.m

ז Zayin

7 During the days of her affliction and homelessnessn

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 Cheth

8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously;

therefore, she has become an object of scorn.D

All who honored her now despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness.

She herself groans and turns away.

ט Teth

9 Her uncleanness stains her skirts.o

She never considered her end.

Her downfall was astonishing;p

there was no one to comfort her.

Lord, look on my affliction,

for the enemy boasts.

י Yod

10 The adversary has seized

all her precious belongings.

She has even seen the nations

enter her sanctuary—

those you had forbidden

to enter your assembly.q

כ Kaph

11 All her people groan

while they search for bread.r

They have traded their precious belongings for food

in order to stay alive.s

Lord, look and see

how I have become despised.

ל Lamed

12 Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by?a

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?b