Lamentations 1

CHAPTER 1

Zion Lays Desolate

Aleph

¹How ^alonely sits the city

That was ^bgreat with people!

She has become like a ^cwidow

Who was once ^dgreat among the nations!

She who was a princess among the ¹provinces

Has become a ^eforced laborer!

Beth

²She ^aweeps bitterly in the night,

And her tears are on her cheeks;

She has none to comfort her

Among all her ^blovers.

All her friends have ^cdealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

Gimel

^3aJudah has gone into exile because of affliction

And because of great slavery;

She sits ^bamong the nations,

But she has found no rest;

All ^cher pursuers have overtaken her

In the midst of ¹distress.

Daleth

⁴The roads ¹of Zion are in mourning

Because ^ano one comes to the appointed times.

All her gates are ^bdesolate;

Her priests are sighing,

Her ^cvirgins are grieving,

And she herself ²is ^dbitter.

He

⁵Her adversaries have become ¹her masters;

Her enemies are complacent;

For ²Yahweh has ^acaused her grief

Because of the greatness of her transgressions;

Her infants have gone away

As captives before the adversary.

Vav

⁶So all her ^amajesty

Has gone out from the daughter of Zion;

Her princes have become like deer

That have found no pasture;

So they have ^1bfled without strength

Before the pursuer.

Zayin

⁷In the days of her affliction and homelessness

^aJerusalem remembers all her precious things

That were from the days of old,

When her people fell into the hand of the adversary

And ^bno one helped her.

The adversaries saw her;

They ^claughed at her ¹ruin.

Heth

⁸Jerusalem sinned ^agreatly;

Therefore ^bshe has become an impure thing.

All who honored her despise her

Because they have seen her nakedness;

Even ^cshe herself sighs and turns away.

Teth

⁹Her ^auncleanness was in her skirts;

She did not remember her ^bfuture.

Therefore she has ^cgone down astonishingly;

^dShe has no comforter.

“^eSee, O Yahweh, my affliction,

For the enemy has ^fmagnified himself!”

Yodh

¹⁰The adversary has stretched out his hand

Over all her desirable things,

For she has seen the ^anations enter her sanctuary,

The ones whom You commanded

That they should ^bnot enter into Your assembly.

Kaph

¹¹All her people are sighing, ^aseeking bread;

They have given their desirable things for food

To ^brestore their souls.

“See, O Yahweh, and look,

For I am ^cdespised.”

Lamedh

¹²“Is ^ait nothing to all you who pass this way?

Look and see if there is any ¹pain like my ²pain

Which was dealt severely to me,

Which ^bYahweh grieved me with on the day of His ^cburning anger.

Mem

¹³“From on high He sent fire into my ^abones,

And it dominated them.

He has spread a ^bnet for my feet;

He has turned me back;

He has made me ^cdesolate,

¹Faint all day long.

Nun

¹⁴“The ^ayoke of my transgressions is bound;

By His hand they are knit together.

They have ^bcome upon my neck;

He has made my strength stumble.

The Lord ^chas given me into the hands

Of those against whom I am not able to stand.

Samekh

¹⁵“The ^aLord has rejected all my mighty men

In my midst;

He has called an appointed time against me

To break my ^byoung men;

The Lord has ^ctrodden as in a wine press

The virgin daughter of Judah.

Ayin

¹⁶“For these things I ^aam weeping;

¹My eyes run down with water;

Because far from me is a ^bcomforter,

One who restores my soul.

My children are desolate

Because the enemy has prevailed.”

Pe

¹⁷Zion ^astretches out her hands;

There is no one to comfort her;

Yahweh has ^bcommanded concerning Jacob

That the ones round about him should be his adversaries;

^cJerusalem has become an impure thing among them.

Tsadhe

¹⁸“Yahweh is ^arighteous;

For I have ^brebelled against His ¹command;

Hear now, all peoples,

And ^cbehold my ²pain;

^dMy virgins and my young men

Have gone into captivity.

Qoph

¹⁹“I ^acalled to my lovers, but they deceived me;

My ^bpriests and my elders breathed their last in the city

While they sought food for themselves in order to ^crestore their souls.

Resh

²⁰“See, O Yahweh, for I am in distress;

My ^1ainmost being is greatly disturbed;

My heart is overturned within me,

For I have been very ^brebellious.

In the street the sword bereaves;

In the house it is like death.

Shin

²¹“They have heard that I ^aam sighing;

There is no one to comfort me;

All my enemies have heard of the ¹evil done to me;

They ^brejoice that You have done it.

You have brought the day which You have proclaimed,

So that they will become ^clike me.

Tav

²²“Let all their evil come before You;

And ^adeal severely with them as You have dealt severely with me

For all my transgressions;

For my groans are great and my heart is faint.”