You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.”

The Lord who rules over all has solemnly sworn, ‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers. They will swarm over it like locusts. They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’

They will report that the fords have been captured, the reed marshes have been burned, the soldiers are terrified.

א (Alef)Alas! Gold has lost its luster; pure gold loses value. Jewels are scattered on every street corner.

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.

ד (Dalet) The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, but no one gives them even a morsel.

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.

ז (Zayin) Her consecrated ones were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies more ruddy than corals, their hair like lapis lazuli.

ט (Tet) Those who died by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, those who waste away, struck down from lack of food.

י (Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed.

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

נ (Nun) They wander blindly through the streets, defiled by the blood they shed, while no one dares to touch their garments.

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!

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.

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.”

He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front and back; written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.”

When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, “Where is the whitewash you coated it with?”

I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.’

He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note – he gave his promise and did all these things – he will not escape!