צ (Tsade) Our enemies hunted us down at every step so that we could not walk about in our streets. Our end drew near, our days were numbered, for our end had come!

ס (Samek) People cry to them, “Turn away! You are unclean! Turn away! Turn away! Don’t touch us!” So they have fled and wander about; but the nations say, “They may not stay here any longer.”

ג (Gimel) He has walled me in so that I cannot get out; he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains.

He drove me into captivity and made me walk in darkness and not light.

Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the Lord’s heaven.

For wild animals are prowling over Mount Zion, which lies desolate.

It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes – both calamity and blessing?

ח (Khet) Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.

ל (Lamed) Neither the kings of the earth nor the people of the lands ever thought that enemy or foe would enter the gates of Jerusalem.

ל (Lamed) Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by on the road? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord has afflicted me, he has inflicted it on me when he burned with anger.

ס (Samek) All who passed by on the road clapped their hands to mock you. They sneered and shook their heads at Daughter Jerusalem. “Ha! Is this the city they called ‘The perfection of beauty, the source of joy of the whole earth!’?”

צ (Tsade) Cry out from your heart to the Lord, O wall of Daughter Zion! Make your tears flow like a river all day and all night long! Do not rest; do not let your tears stop!