Lamentations 4:3

ג (Gimel)

4:3 Even the jackals nurse their young

at their breast,

but my people are cruel,

like ostriches in the desert.

Lamentations 4:7

ז (Zayin)

4:7 Her consecrated ones were brighter than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies more ruddy than corals,

their hair like lapis lazuli.

Lamentations 4:4

ד (Dalet)

4:4 The infant’s tongue sticks

to the roof of its mouth due to thirst;

little children beg for bread,

but no one gives them even a morsel.

Lamentations 1:5

ה (He)

1:5 Her foes subjugated her;

her enemies are at ease.

For the Lord afflicted her

because of her many acts of rebellion.

Her children went away

captive before the enemy.

Lamentations 1:10

י (Yod)

1:10 An enemy grabbed

all her valuables.

Indeed she watched in horror as Gentiles

invaded her holy temple –

those whom you had commanded:

“They must not enter your assembly place.”

Lamentations 1:15

ס (Samek)

1:15 He rounded up all my mighty ones;

The Lord did this in my midst.

He summoned an assembly against me

to shatter my young men.

The Lord has stomped like grapes

the virgin daughter, Judah.

Lamentations 1:17

The Prophet Speaks:

פ (Pe)

1:17 Zion spread out her hands,

but there is no one to comfort her.

The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob;

his neighbors have become his enemies.

Jerusalem has become

like filthy garbage in their midst.

Lamentations 2:11

כ (Kaf)

2:11 My eyes are worn out from weeping;

my stomach is in knots.

My heart is poured out on the ground

due to the destruction of my helpless people;

children and infants faint

in the town squares.

Lamentations 2:20

Jerusalem Speaks:

ר (Resh)

2:20 Look, O Lord! Consider!

Whom have you ever afflicted like this?

Should women eat their offspring,

their healthy infants?

Should priest and prophet

be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?

Lamentations 2:19

ק (Qof)

2:19 Get up! Cry out in the night

when the night watches start!

Pour out your heart like water

before the face of the Lord!

Lift up your hands to him

for your children’s lives;

they are fainting

at every street corner.