So I said, “My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord.”

ט (Tet) The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.

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

נ (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.

until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.

ק (Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit.

You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!

ש (Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.

ת (Tav) Pay them back what they deserve, O Lord, according to what they have done.

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

“My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return to you; renew our life as in days before,

ח (Khet) The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.

כ (Kaf) The Lord fully vented his wrath; he poured out his fierce anger. He started a fire in Zion; it consumed her foundations.

ר (Resh) Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king – was caught in their traps, of whom we thought, “Under his protection we will survive among the nations.”

O Lord, reflect on what has happened to us; consider and look at our disgrace.

ה (He) 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.

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

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

פ (Pe) 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.