1And this happened after Israel was taken captive and Jerusalem was devastated: Jeremiah sat down weeping, and he wailed this lament over Jerusalem and said: Aleph. How the city that had been filled with people sits alone! She has become like a widow. Filled with nations, a princess among the territories has become tribute. 2 Bēth. Weeping, she wept at night, and her tears were upon her cheeks. And of all those who loved her, there was no one to comfort her. All who loved her dealt treacherously with her; they became enemies to her. 3 Gimel. Judea was resettled because of her lowliness, and from the magnitude of her slavery. She sat among the nations; she has not found rest. All those who pursue her have seized her between those who afflict. 4 Daleth. The ways of Zion mourn, for there is no one to come to a feast. All her gates are destroyed; her priests groan. Her virgins are carried away, and she is embittered in herself. 5 Hē. Those who afflict her have become a head, and her enemies are prospering because the Lord humbled her at the number of her ungodly acts. Her children were brought into captivity from the face of an oppressor. 6 Ouaou. And all her dignity has been removed from the daughter of Zion. Her rulers have become like rams not finding pasturage, and they kept going in no strength at the face of the pursuer. 7 Zain. Jerusalem remembered the days of her lowliness and her rejection and all her desirable things that were from the days of old, when her people fell into the hands of oppressors, and there was no one to help her. Seeing this, her enemies laughed at her dwelling. 8 Hēth. Jerusalem sinned a sin. Therefore, she has become restless. All who extolled her have brought her low, for they saw her shame. And surely, she is groaning; and she was turned away backward. 9 Tēth. Her uncleanness was from her feet; she did not remember her extremities. And she brought down swollen things; there is none who comforts her. See, O Lord, my lowliness, that an enemy was magnified. 10 Iōth. The oppressor spread out his hand over all her desired objects, for she saw nations enter into her sanctuary, whom you commanded not to enter into your assembly. 11 Chaph. All her people sigh, seeking bread; they gave their desires for food for their soul to return. See, O Lord, and look, for she has become dishonored. 12 Lamed. As for all those who go beside you, on the road, turn about and see whether there is pain according to my pain that has happened. Speaking with respect to me, the Lord made me low on the day of the wrath of his anger. 13 Mēm. From his height he sent fire; he brought it down into my bones. He spread a net for my feet; he turned me back. He granted me to be removed, sorrowing the whole day. 14 Noun. He was watchful over my profane acts; they were woven by my hands; they went up on my neck. My strength became weak because the Lord gave pain into my hands. I will not be able to stand. 15 Samch. The Lord removed all my mighty men out of the middle of me; he proclaimed against me a time to crush my choicest men. The Lord has trod the winepress for the virgin daughter of Judah; I lament at these things. 16 Ain. My eye has brought down water because the one who comforts me is distant from me, the one who returns my life. My sons became removed because the enemy was strengthened. 17 Phē. Zion spread out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. The Lord commanded Jacob; those who are afflicting him are all around him. Jerusalem became a woman who sits apart between them. 18 Tiadē. The Lord is righteous, because I have provoked his mouth. Hear now, all peoples, and see my pain. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. 19 Kōph. I called to my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders in the city came to an end because they sought food for themselves in order to restore their souls, and they did not find any. 20 Rhēchs. See, O Lord, that I am afflicted; my belly is stirred up, and my heart has turned within me because, provoked, I have been provoked. Outside, a sword has made childless, just as death at home. 21 Chsen. Hear now, for I am groaning; there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard my calamities, and they rejoiced, for you have acted. You have brought on the day; you have proclaimed the time; they have become like me. 22 Thau. May all their evil go in at your face, and glean them, the way they have made a gleaning about all my sins; for my groanings are many, and my heart is grieved.
2Aleph. How the Lord has brought darkness in his anger upon the daughter of Zion! He has thrown the glory of Israel down from the heaven to the earth. And he did not remember the footstool of his feet. 2 Bēth. In the day of his anger, the Lord drowned, not sparing; he brought down all the beautiful things of Jacob in his anger. He stuck the strongholds of the daughter of Judah to the earth; he profaned her kings and her rulers. 3 Gimel. He crushed all the horns of Israel in the wrath of his anger; he turned his right hand back from the face of the enemy, and he kindled a flame in Jacob like fire, and it devoured everything, all around. 4 Daleth. He bent his bow like an opposing enemy. He made his right hand firm like an enemy and killed all the desires of my eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion. He poured out his wrath like fire. 5 He. The Lord became like an enemy; he drowned Israel; he drowned her bastions. He utterly destroyed its strongholds, and he multiplied the humiliated and humbled women for the daughter of Judah. 6 Ouau. And he dispersed his tent like a vine; he utterly destroyed his feast. The Lord forgot what he made in Zion, of the feast and Sabbath, and he provoked king and priest and ruler by the indignation of his wrath. 7 Zain. The Lord has thrust away his altar; he shook off his sanctuary. He crushed the wall of its bastions in his hand. They gave forth a sound in the house as on the day of a feast. 8 Hēth. And he returned to utterly destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line; he did not turn his hand back from trampling. And the outer wall mourned, and the wall became weak at once. 9 Tēth. Her gates were stuck in the earth; he destroyed, and he crushed her bars, and her king and her rulers among the nations. There is no law; and now her prophets have seen no vision from the Lord. 10 Iōd. The elders of the daughter of Zion sat on the ground; they were silent. They brought up dust upon their head; they girded themselves with sackcloth; they brought down to the ground the chief virgins in Jerusalem. 11 Chaph. My eyes came to an end with tears; my heart was stirred up. My honor was poured out on the earth, on the wound of the daughter of my people, while infant and suckling came to an end in the streets of the city. 12 Labd. To their mothers they said, “Where is grain and wine?” while they faint like the wounded in the city streets, while their lives are poured out into the bosom of their mothers. 13 Mēm. What shall I testify to you, or to what shall I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? Who will save and comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? Because the cup of your crushing has been enlarged, who will heal you? 14 Noun. Your prophets have seen vanity and folly for you, and they did not reveal your injustice, to restore your captivity. And they saw worthless gains and banishments for you. 15 Samch. All who went by the way clapped their hands at you. They whistled and shook their head at the daughter of Jerusalem: “This is the city,” they will say, “the crown of joy of the whole earth!” 16 Ain. All your enemies opened their mouth against you; they whistled and gnashed teeth and said, “We have swallowed her! Moreover, this is the day that we were expecting; we found it; we have seen it!” 17 Phē. The Lord has done that which he planned; he has accomplished his words that he commanded from ancient days. He took down and did not spare, and he has made the enemy cheerful over you; he has lifted up the horn of your oppressor. 18 Tiadē. Their heart cried to the Lord: O walls of Zion! Bring down tears as a torrent, day and night! May you not give calmness to yourself; may your eye not be silent, O daughter! 19 Kōph. Arise, rejoice in the night for the beginning of your watch! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift your hands up to him concerning the life of the infants who faint with hunger at the beginning of all exits. 20 Rhēchs. See, Lord, and consider for whom you have gathered in this way. Will women eat the fruit of their womb? A cook made a gleaning. Will infants suckling breasts be slain? Will you kill priest and prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 Chsen. The young boy and the old man have fallen asleep in the exit. My virgins and my young men were carried into captivity. You killed by the sword and by famine; on the day of your wrath, you butchered; you did not spare. 22 Thau. He summoned my sojourning from all around for a day of feasting. And there was no one rescued and left behind in the day of the wrath of the Lord, as I prevailed over and increased all my enemies.
3Aleph. I am the man who sees poverty, by the rod of anger against me. 2 He took me and led me away into darkness and not light. 3 Moreover, he turned his hand against me the whole day. 4 He aged my flesh and my skin; he crushed my bones. 5 Bē. He built up against me, and he encircled my head, and he labored. 6 He set me in dark places, like a corpse from eternity. 7 He rebuilt against me, and I will not go out; he made my bronze heavy. 8 Gimel. And indeed, I will cry aloud and shout; he has blocked my prayer. 9 Daleth. He has built up my ways, fenced in my paths. She has stirred me up, 10 a bear lying in wait; to me he is a lion in hiding. 11 He has pursued, hindered me after I had departed; he set me as a ruined woman. 12 He. He bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow. 13 He brought arrows from his quiver into my kidneys. 14 I became laughter to all my people, their psalm the whole day. 15 Ouau. He has fed me with bitterness; he has made me drunk with gall. 16 And he has driven out my teeth with gravel; he fed me morsels of ashes. 17 And he thrust my soul away from peace; I have forgotten good things. 18 And my victory has perished, and my hope from the Lord. 19 Zai. I remembered by reason of my poverty, and because of persecution 20 my bitterness and gall will be remembered, and my soul will chatter at me. 21 I will put this in my heart; therefore, I will wait. 25 Hēth. The Lord is good to those who wait for him; to the soul who will seek him, it is a good thing. 26 And it will remain and keep quiet for the salvation of the Lord. 27 Tēth. It is good for a man when he carries a yoke in his youth. 28 He will sit alone and be silent, for he lifted it up upon himself. 30 Iōd. He will give his cheek to the one who strikes him; he will be fed with reproaches. 31 For the Lord will not thrust away for eternity. 32 Chaph. For he who brought low will have pity, even according to the abundance of his compassion. 33 He did not answer from his heart, and he brought low the sons of a man. 34 Labd. To make low under his feet all the captives of the land, 35 to turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the Most High, 36 to condemn a person while he contends—the Lord did not say these things! 37 Who has spoken like this and it happened? The Lord did not command these things! 38 Will not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High? 39 Mēm. Why does a living person grumble, a man concerning his sin? 40 Nun. Our way was examined and tested, and let us turn to the Lord. 41 Let us take up our hearts in our hands to the Most High in heaven. 42 We have sinned; we have been ungodly, and you were not merciful. 43 Samch. You covered us in wrath and chased us away. You killed; you did not spare. 44 You covered yourself with a cloud on account of prayer, 45 for me to be blind and thrust away. Ain. You set us in the middle of the people. 46 All our enemies opened their mouth against us. 47 Fear and anger came to us, devastation and crushing. 48 My eye will bring down channels of water at the injury of the daughter of my people. 49 Phē. My eye has been swallowed up, and I will not be silent, for there is to be no calm 50 until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven. 51 My eye will glean over my soul more than all the daughters of the city. 52 Tiadē. All my enemies, when hunting, hunted me like a sparrow, gratuitously. 53 They put my life to death in a cistern, and they placed a stone over me. 54 Water flowed over my head; I said, “I am rejected.” 55 Kōph. I invoked your name, O Lord, from the lowest cistern. 56 You heard my voice; do not hide your ear to my plea! 57 You came to my aid; on the day I called you, you said to me, “Do not be afraid.” 58 Rhēchs. You pleaded the causes of my soul, O Lord; you redeemed my life. 59 You saw, O Lord, my troubles; you judged my case. 60 You saw all their vengeance, all their schemes against me. 61 Chsen. You heard their reproach, all their schemes against me. 62 Their lips rose up against me, and their thoughts against me the whole day, 63 their sitting and their rising. Look upon their eyes. 64 You will pay them back with a repayment, O Lord, according to the deeds of their hands. 65 Thau. You will pay them back with a shielding, the hardship of my heart. 66 You will pursue them in anger and consume them under the heaven, O Lord.
4Aleph. How gold will become dim; the good silver will be changed. Sacred stones will be poured out at the beginning of all exits. 2 Bē. The honored sons of Zion who were lifted up with gold — how will they be reckoned as earthen vessels, the works of the potter’s hands? 3 Gimel. And indeed, dragons bared the breasts; their whelps suckled the daughters of my people for no cure, like a sparrow in the desert.[1] 4 Daleth. The tongue of the suckling is glued to its throat with thirst; infants asked for bread; there was no one to break it for them. 5 He. Those who eat food were removed in the exits; those who were brought up in scarlet wrapped themselves in dung. 6 Ouau. And the lawlessness of the daughter of my people was increased beyond the lawlessness of Sodom, which was overturned as with haste, and they did not toil with their hands against her. 7 Zain. Her Nazirites were made clean beyond snow; they shone beyond milk; they were made red beyond stones; their piece was as sapphire. 8 Ēth. Their appearance was dark beyond soot; they were not recognized in the exits; their skin had stiffened upon their bones; they were dried up; they became like wood. 9 Tēth. Those injured by the sword were fairer than those injured by famine. They walked, goaded on by the fruit of the fields. 10 Iōd. The hands of merciful women boiled their children; they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11 Chaph. The Lord has accomplished his anger; he poured out the anger of his wrath and kindled a fire in Zion, and it devoured its foundations. 12 Labd. The kings of the earth, all who inhabit the world, did not believe that the enemy and the oppressor would enter through the gates of Jerusalem. 13 Mēm. Because of the sins of her prophets, the injustices of her priests, those who pour out the blood of the righteous in the middle of her. 14 Noun. Her watchmen were shaken in the exits; they were defiled with blood. When they could not prevail, they touched their garments. 15 Samech. Stay away from the unclean! Call them, “Put away! Put away! Do not touch!” For they were set on fire; and indeed, they were shaken. Say among the nations, “They shall not proceed to sojourn.” 16 Ain. The face of the Lord is their portion; he will not continue to look upon them. They did not receive the face of the priests; they showed no mercy to prophets. 17 Phē. While we were still waiting, our eyes came to an end, while we watched vainly for our help. 18 Tiadē. We watched for a nation that did not save. We hunted for our small ones, for them not to walk in our streets. 19 Kōph. Our time has passed; our days have been fulfilled; our time is present. Our pursuers are swift beyond eagles of the sky. They flew out over the mountains; they laid snares for us in the desert. 20 Rhēchs. The breath of our face, the anointed Lord, was captured by their destructions, of whom we said, “We will live in its shade among the nations.” 21 Chsen. Rejoice and be cheerful, O daughter of Edom, who dwell upon the land; and indeed, the cup of the Lord will pass to you; you will be drunk, and you will pour out. 22 Thau. Your lawlessness has come to an end, O daughter of Zion; he will not proceed to exile you. He has visited your lawlessness, O daughter of Edom; he has revealed against your profane acts.
5Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us. Look, and see our disgrace! 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to others, our homes to foreigners. 3 We have become orphans; there is no father; our mothers are like the widows. 4 From our days our wood came by exchange. 5 We were pursued upon our neck; we grew weary; we were not given rest. 6 Egypt gave a hand; Assyria, from their abundance. 7 Our fathers sinned; they are no more. We are suffering their lawless deeds. 8 Slaves lorded over us; there is no one to redeem us from their hand. 9 We will bring in our bread by our souls, from the face of the sword of the desert. 10 Our skin has been become dark like an oven; they are shriveled up from the face of the storm of the famine. 11 They made low the women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. 12 The rulers were hung by their hands; the elders were not esteemed. 13 Choice men took up weeping, and young men became weak at the wood. 14 And old men desisted from the gate; choice men desisted from their psalms. 15 The joy of our heart ceased; our dance was turned to grief. 16 The crown of our head fell. Woe indeed to us, for we have sinned! 17 Because of this our heart became a grievous pain; because of this our eyes have become darkened. 18 Over Mount Zion, because it was destroyed, foxes passed through it. 19 But you, O Lord, will dwell for eternity; your throne unto generation and generation. 20 For what purpose will you forget us for victory? Will you leave us behind for length of days? 21 Restore us, O Lord, to yourself, and we shall be restored, and renew our days, just as before. 22 For in rejecting you have rejected us; you have become angry to the extreme against us.