ו (Vav) All of Daughter Zion’s ¹  splendor ²  has departed. ³  Her leaders became like deer; they found no pasture, so they were too exhausted to escape ⁴  from the hunter. ⁵ 

ט (Tet) Her menstrual flow ¹  has soiled ²  her clothing; ³  she did not consider ⁴  the consequences of her sin. ⁵  Her demise ⁶  was astonishing, ⁷  and there was no one to comfort her. She cried, “Look, ⁸  O Lord, on my ⁹  affliction because my enemy boasts!”

ס (Samek) He rounded up ¹  all my mighty ones; ²  The Lord ³  did this ⁴  in ⁵  my midst. He summoned an assembly ⁶  against me to shatter my young men. The Lord has stomped like grapes ⁷  the virgin daughter, Judah. ⁸ 

ק (Qof) I called for my lovers, ¹  but they had deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city. Truly they had ²  searched for food to ³  keep themselves ⁴  alive. ⁵ 

א (Alef) Alas! ¹  The Lord ²  has covered Daughter Zion ³  with his anger. ⁴  He has thrown down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he did not protect ⁵  his temple ⁶  when he displayed his anger. ⁷ 

ב (Bet) The Lord ¹  destroyed ²  mercilessly ³  all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁴  In his anger he tore down the fortified cities ⁵  of Daughter Judah. He knocked to the ground and humiliated the kingdom and its rulers. ⁶ 

ד (Dalet) He prepared his bow ¹  like an enemy; his right hand was ready to shoot. ²  Like a foe he killed everyone, even our strong young men; ³  he has poured out his anger like fire on the tent ⁴  of Daughter Zion.

ה (He) The Lord, ¹  like an enemy, destroyed ²  Israel. He destroyed ³  all her palaces; he ruined her ⁴  fortified cities. He made everyone in Daughter Judah mourn and lament. ⁵ 

ז (Zayin) The Lord ¹  rejected ²  his altar and abhorred his temple. ³  He handed over to the enemy ⁴  her palace walls; the enemy ⁵  shouted ⁶  in the Lord’s temple as if it were a feast day. ⁷ 

ח (Khet) The Lord was determined to tear down Daughter Zion’s wall. He prepared to knock it down; ¹  he did not withdraw his hand from destroying. ²  He made the ramparts and fortified walls lament; together they mourned their ruin. ³ 

ט (Tet) Her city gates have fallen ¹  to the ground; he smashed to bits ²  the bars that lock her gates. ³  Her king and princes were taken into exile; ⁴  there is no more guidance available. ⁵  As for her prophets, they no longer receive ⁶  a vision from the Lord.

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider! ¹  Whom have you ever afflicted ²  like this? Should women eat their offspring, ³  their healthy infants? ⁴  Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s ⁵  sanctuary?

ת (Tav) O people of Zion, ¹  your punishment ²  will come to an end; ³  he will not prolong your exile. ⁴  But, O people of Edom, ⁵  he will punish ⁶  your sin ⁷  and reveal ⁸  your offenses!

Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, ¹  and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors ²  to the winds. ³ 

Then a wind ¹  lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, ²  in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me.

Say to them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: ¹  “‘A great eagle ²  with broad wings, long feathers, ³  with full plumage which was multi-hued, ⁴  came to Lebanon ⁵  and took the top of the cedar.

Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ¹  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ¹  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ²  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ³  he examines ⁴  animal livers. ⁵ 

The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. ¹  They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she ²  became disgusted with them.

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, the pot whose rot ¹  is in it, whose rot has not been removed ²  from it! Empty it piece by piece. No lot has fallen on it. ³