א Alef
1 How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed!
The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.
ב Bet
2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold,
How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
ג Gimel
3 Even the jackals draw out the breast, they nurse their young ones:
The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
ד Dalet
4 The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst:
The young children ask bread, and no man breaks it to them.
ה He
5 Those who fed delicately are desolate in the streets:
Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
ו Vav
6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom,
That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid on her.
ז Zayin
7 Her nobles were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire.
ח Khet
8 Their appearance is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets:
Their skin clings to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a stick.
ט Tet
9 Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger;
For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.
י Yod
10 The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children;
They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
כ Kaf
11 Yehowah יהוה has accomplished his wrath, he has poured out his fierce anger;
He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.
ל Lamed
12 The kings of the earth didn’t believe, neither all the inhabitants of the world,
That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.
מ Mem
13 It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests,
That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
נ Nun
14 They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood,
So that men can’t touch their garments.
ס Samek
15 Depart! they cried to them, Unclean! depart, depart, don’t touch!
When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall not live here any more.
פ Pe
16 Yehowah’s יהוה anger has scattered them; he will no more regard them:
They didn’t respect the persons of the priests, they didn’t favor the elders.
ע Ayin
17 Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help:
In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
צ Tsade
18 They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets:
Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.
ק Qof
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky:
They chased us on the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
ר Resh
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yehowah יהוה, was taken in their pits;
Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.
ׂש Sin
21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz:
The cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.
ת Tav
22 The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion; he will no more carry you away into captivity:
He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom; he will uncover your sins.