They raped women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.

ו (Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust.

ק (Qof) Those who pursued us were swifter than eagles in the sky. They chased us over the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:

He has made me reside in deepest darkness like those who died long ago.

Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope.

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

to defraud a person in a lawsuit – the Lord does not approve of such things!

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

They shut me up in a pit and threw stones at me.

י (Yod) Let a person sit alone in silence, when the Lord is disciplining him.

to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High,

ד (Dalet) To me he is like a bear lying in ambush, like a hidden lion stalking its prey.

At the risk of our lives we get our food because robbers lurk in the countryside.

You make us like filthy scum in the estimation of the nations.

ה (He) Those who once feasted on delicacies are now starving to death in the streets. Those who grew up wearing expensive clothes are now dying amid garbage.

ג (Gimel) In fierce anger he destroyed the whole army of Israel. He withdrew his right hand as the enemy attacked. He was like a raging fire in the land of Jacob; it consumed everything around it.

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

ל (Lamed) Children say to their mothers, “Where are food and drink?” They faint like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly in their mothers’ arms.

כ (Kaf) 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.