Jerusalem Speaks:

ר (Resh)

2:20 Look, O Lord! Consider!104

Whom have you ever afflicted105 like this?

Should women eat their offspring,106

their healthy infants?107

Should priest and prophet

be killed in the Lord’s108 sanctuary?

ש (Sin/Shin)

2:21 The young boys and old men

lie dead on the ground in the streets.

My young women109 and my young men

have fallen by the sword.

You killed them when you were angry;110

you slaughtered them without mercy.111

ת (Tav)

2:22 As if it were a feast day, you call112

enemies113 to terrify me114 on every side.115

On the day of the Lord’s anger

no one escaped or survived.

My enemy has finished off

those healthy infants whom I bore116 and raised.117