“Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ¹  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ²  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ³ 

“‘Do not weep for the king who was killed. Do not grieve for him. But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile. For he will never return to see his native land again. ¹ 

For the land is full of people unfaithful to him. ¹  They live wicked lives and they misuse their power. ²  So the land is dried up ³  because it is under his curse. ⁴  The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! ¹  The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery. ² 

The Lord says, “A sound is heard in Ramah, ¹  a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone.” ² 

I have indeed ¹  heard the people of Israel ²  say mournfully, ‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. ³  You disciplined us and we learned from it. ⁴  Let us come back to you and we will do so, ⁵  for you are the Lord our God.

א (Alef) ^{1  2} Alas! ³  The city once full of people ⁴  now sits all alone! ⁵  The prominent ⁶  lady among the nations has become a widow! ⁷  The princess ⁸  who once ruled the provinces ⁹  has become a forced laborer!

ח (Khet) Jerusalem committed terrible sin; ¹  therefore she became an object of scorn. ²  All who admired ³  her have despised her ⁴  because they have seen her nakedness. ⁵  She groans aloud ⁶  and turns away in shame. ⁷ 

כ (Kaf) All her people groaned as they searched for a morsel of bread. ¹  They exchanged ²  their valuables ³  for ⁴  just enough food to stay alive. ⁵ “Look, O Lord! Consider ⁶  that I have become worthless!”

ת (Tav) Let all their wickedness come before you; afflict ¹  them just as you have afflicted ²  me ³  because of all my acts of rebellion. ⁴  For my groans are many, and my heart is sick with sorrow. ⁵ 

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 

כ (Kaf) My eyes are worn out ¹  from weeping; ²  my stomach is in knots. ³  My heart ⁴  is poured out on the ground due to the destruction ⁵  of my helpless people; ⁶  children and infants faint in the town squares.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply ¹  in Jerusalem. ²  They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

All the princes of the sea will vacate ¹  their thrones. They will remove their robes and strip off their embroidered clothes; they will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground; they will tremble continually and be shocked at what has happened to you. ² 

As he approached the den, he called out to Daniel in a worried voice, ¹  “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God whom you continually serve able to rescue you from the lions?”

The inhabitants ¹  of Samaria will lament ²  over the calf idol ³  of Beth Aven. ⁴  Its people will mourn over it; its idolatrous priests will wail ⁵  over it, ⁶  because its splendor will be taken from them ⁷  into exile.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ¹  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ² 

They trample ¹  on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; ²  they push the destitute away. ³  A man and his father go to the same girl; ⁴  in this way they show disrespect ⁵  for my moral purity. ⁶ 

Because of Israel’s sins ¹  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ²  says: “In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ³  They will tell the field workers ⁴  to lament and the professional mourners ⁵  to wail.

The Lord God appointed ¹  a little plant ²  and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue ³  him from his misery. ⁴  Now Jonah was very delighted ⁵  about the little plant.