1  How hath YHWH covered with a cloud the daughter of Zion in His anger! He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and hath not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.

1  ALEPH. How has the Lord darkened in his wrath the daughter of Sion! he has cast down the glory of Israel from heaven to earth, and has not remembered his footstool.

2  YHWH hath swallowed up unsparingly all the habitations of Jacob; He hath thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought them down to the ground; He hath profaned the kingdom and the princes thereof.

2  BETH. In the day of his wrath the Lord has overwhelmed her as in the sea, and not spared: he has brought down in his fury all the beautiful things of Jacob; he has brought down to the ground the strong-holds of the daughter of Juda; he has profaned her kings and her princes.

2  BETH. The Lord has cast down, and he has not been lenient, with all the beauties of Jacob. In his fury, he has destroyed the fortifications of the virgin of Judah, and he has thrown them down to the ground. He has polluted the kingdom and its leaders.

3  He hath cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy; and He hath burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

3  GIMEL. He has broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has turned back his right hand from the face of the enemy, and has kindled a flame in Jacob as a fire, and it has devoured all things round about.

3  GHIMEL. In the anger of his fury, he has broken the entire horn of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand before the face of the enemy. And he has kindled within Jacob a flaming fire, devouring all around.

4  He hath bent His bow like an enemy, standing with His right hand as an adversary, and hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye; in the tent of the daughter of Zion He hath poured out His fury like fire.

4  DALETH. He has bent his bow as an opposing enemy: he has strengthened his right hand as an adversary, and has destroyed all the desirable things of my eyes in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion: he has poured forth his anger as fire.

5  YHWH is become as an enemy, He hath swallowed up Israel; He hath swallowed up all her palaces, He hath destroyed his strongholds; and He hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and moaning.

5  HE. The Lord is become as an enemy: he has overwhelmed Israel as in the sea, he has overwhelmed her palaces: he has destroyed her strong-holds, and has multiplied the afflicted and humbled ones to the daughter of Juda.

5  The LORD has become as an enemy; he has drowned Israel, he has destroyed all her palaces; he has made havoc in all her provinces, and has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

6  And He hath stripped His tabernacle, as if it were a garden, He hath destroyed His place of assembly; YHWH hath caused to be forgotten in Zion appointed season and sabbath, and hath rejected in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest.

6  VAU. And he has scattered his tabernacle as a vine, he has marred his feast: the Lord has forgotten the feast and the sabbath which he appointed in Sion, and in the fury of his wrath has vexed the king, and priest, and prince.

6  VAU. And he has torn apart her tent like a garden. He has demolished her tabernacle. In Zion, the Lord has delivered feast and Sabbath into oblivion, and king and priest into disgrace, and into the indignation of his fury.

7  YHWH hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary, He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of YHWH, as in the day of a solemn assembly.

7  ZAIN. The Lord has pushed away his own altar. He has cursed his own sanctuary. He has delivered the walls of its towers into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as if on the day of a solemnity.

8  YHWH hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He hath stretched out the line, He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying; but He hath made the rampart and wall to mourn, they languish together.

8  HETH. And he has turned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he has stretched out the measuring line, he has not turned back his hand from afflicting her: therefore the bulwark mourned, and the wall was weakened with it.

8  The LORD has purposed to destroy the walls of the daughter of Zion; he has stretched out a line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying her; therefore he has caused her forces to sit in mourning; her walls have become completely desolate.

9  Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations, instruction is no more; yea, her prophets find no vision from YHWH.

9  TETH. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he has destroyed and broken to pieces her bars, and her king and her prince among the Gentiles: there is no law, nay, her prophets have seen no vision from the Lord.

9  TETH. Her gates have been buried in the ground. He has ruined and crushed its bars. Her king and her princes are with the Gentiles. There is no law, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.

10  They sit upon the ground, and keep silence, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have cast up dust upon their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

10  JOD. The elders of the daughter of Sion have sat upon the ground, they have kept silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloths: they have brought down to the ground the chief virgins in Jerusalem.

11  Mine eyes do fail with tears, mine inwards burn, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the breach of the daughter of my people; because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the broad places of the city.

11  CAPH. My eyes have exhausted their tears. My internal organs have become disturbed. My liver has been poured out on the earth, over the grief of the daughter of my people, when the little ones and the infants passed away in the streets of the town.

11  My eyes are dimmed with tears, my soul is disturbed, my pride is low to the ground, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the little children and the babes faint in the streets of the city.

12  They say to their mothers: 'Where is corn and wine?' when they swoon as the wounded in the broad places of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.

12  LAMED. They said to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? while they fainted like wounded men in the streets of the city, while their souls were poured out into their mother’s bosom.

13  What shall I take to witness for thee? What shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea; who can heal thee?

13  MEM. To what shall I compare you, or to what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I equate you, so as to console you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your destruction is as great as the sea. Who will cure you?

13  What thing shall I testify for you, and to whom shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? Whom can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea; who can stop it?

14  Thy prophets have seen visions for thee of vanity and delusion; and they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity; but have prophesied for thee burdens of vanity and seduction.

14  NUN. Your prophets have seen false and foolish things for you. And they have not laid open your iniquity, so as to provoke you to repentance. Yet they have seen for you false revelations and banishments.

14  Your prophets have seen false and deceptive visions for you; and they have not revealed to you anything of your sins, that you might repent and I should bring you back from captivity; but have seen for you false and deceptive prophecies.

15  All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem: 'Is this the city that men called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?'

15  SAMECH. All those who passed by the way have clapped their hands over you. They have hissed and shook their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city of perfect dignity, the joy of all the earth?”

16  All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say: 'We have swallowed her up; certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.'

16  PHE. All your enemies have opened their mouth over you. They have hissed and gnashed their teeth, and they said: “We will devour her. Yes, this is the day we waited for. We have found it, we have seen it.”

16  The LORD has done that which he had devised; he has fulfilled his word as he had commanded in the days of old; he has thrown her down without pity, he has caused your enemies to rejoice over you, he has given might to your oppressors.

17  YHWH hath done that which He devised; He hath performed His word that He commanded in the days of old; He hath thrown down unsparingly; and He hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, He hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries.

17  All your enemies speak evil against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth; they say, We have devoured her; certainly this is the day we looked for; we have found it, we have seen it.

18  Their heart cried unto YHWH: 'O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no respite; let not the apple of thine eye cease.

18  SADE. Their heart cried out to the Lord from the walls of the daughter of Zion. Let tears run down like a torrent throughout the day and the night. Do not give rest to yourself, and do not allow the pupil of your eye to cease.

18  The people's heart cried to the LORD of the walls of the daughter of Zion; let your tears run down like a stream day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eye cease from shedding tears.

19  Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out thy heart like water before the face of YHWH; lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.'

19  COPH. Rise up. Give praise in the night, in the first of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the sight of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him on behalf of the souls of your little ones, who have passed away from famine at the head of all the crossroads.

19  Arise, offer praise in the night at the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the presence of the LORD; lift up your hands toward him for the lives of your little children who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

20  'See, O YHWH, and consider, to whom Thou hast done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of YHWH?

20  RHECHS. Behold, O Lord, and see for whom thou has gathered thus. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? the cook has made a gathering: shall the infants sucking at the breasts be slain? wilt thou slay the priest and prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord?

20  RES. O Lord, see and consider those whom you have made into a such vintage. So then, shall women eat their own fruit, little ones measured by the palm of the hand? Shall priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21  The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast slaughtered unsparingly.

21  CHSEN. The child and old man have lain down in the street: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity: thou hast slain them with the sword and with famine; in the day of thy wrath thou hast mangled them, thou has not spared.

21  SIN. The boy and the old man lie down on the ground outside. My virgins and my youths have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your fury. You have struck down, and you have not shown pity.

22  Thou hast called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side, and there was none in the day of YHWH'S anger that escaped or remained; those that I have dandled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.'

22  THAU. He has called my sojourners round about to a solemn day, and there was not in the day of the wrath of the Lord any one that escaped or was left; whereas I have strengthened and multiplied all mine enemies.

22  THAU. You have called, as if to a day of solemnity, those who would terrify me all around. And there was no one, in the day of the fury of the Lord, who escaped or was left behind. Those whom I educated and nourished, my enemy has consumed.