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

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.

ב (Bet) She weeps bitterly at night; tears stream down her cheeks. She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

ו (Vav) The punishment of my people exceeded that of of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no one to help her.

We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks; we are weary and have no rest.

מ (Mem) He sent down fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He spread out a trapper’s net for my feet; he made me turn back. He has made me desolate; I am faint all day long.

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.

Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.

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

ז (Zayin) The Lord rejected his altar and abhorred his temple. He handed over to the enemy her palace walls; the enemy shouted in the Lord’s temple as if it were a feast day.

The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.

You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.

Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs.

Our forefathers sinned and are dead, but we suffer their punishment.

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

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.”

ה (He) The Lord, like an enemy, destroyed Israel. He destroyed all her palaces; he ruined her fortified cities. He made everyone in Daughter Judah mourn and lament.

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

He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces; he has made me desolate.