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!”

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.

נ (Nun) Your prophets saw visions for you that were worthless lies. They failed to expose your sin so as to restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were worthless lies.

ב (Bet) The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in gold – Alas! – but now they are treated like broken clay pots, made by a potter.

א (Alef)Alas! The city once full of people now sits all alone! The prominent lady among the nations has become a widow! The princess who once ruled the provinces has become a forced laborer!

ג (Gimel) Judah has departed into exile under affliction and harsh oppression. She lives among the nations; she has found no resting place. All who pursued her overtook her in narrow straits.

צ (Tsade) The Lord is right to judge me! Yes, I rebelled against his commands. Please listen, all you nations, and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile.

י (Yod) The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dirt on their heads; They have dressed in sackcloth. Jerusalem’s young women stare down at the ground.

מ (Mem) With what can I equate you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you so that I might comfort you, O Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?

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!’?”

ע (Ayin) The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his promise that he threatened long ago: He has overthrown you without mercy and has enabled the enemy to gloat over you; he has exalted your adversaries’ power.

ר (Resh) 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?

ב (Bet) He has made my mortal skin waste away; he has broken my bones.

He has given me my fill of bitter herbs and made me drunk with bitterness.

ז (Zayin) Remember my impoverished and homeless condition, which is a bitter poison.

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

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.

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.

ע (Ayin) Our eyes continually failed us as we looked in vain for help. From our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not rescue us.