1 Alef. Como cobriu irritado o Senhor com uma nuvem a filha de Sião? Precipitou do céu à terra a gloria de Israel, e na sua cólera desinteressou-se do escabelo dos seus pés.2 Bet. O Senhor destruiu sem piedade todas as moradias de Jacó. E em seu furor arruinou as fortificações da filha de Judá. Lançou por terra e conspurcou o reino e seus príncipes.3 Guimel. Na violência do seu furor, quebrou todo o poder de Israel. Ao aproximar-se o inimigo, retirou o apoio de sua mão, e provocou um incêndio em Jacó que devora tudo que o cerca.4 Dalet. Retesou o arco, qual inimigo; firmou o braço, qual adversário; e tudo quanto encantava os olhos ele degolou. Na tenda da filha de Sião lançou o fogo do seu furor.5 He. Semelhante a um inimigo o Senhor destruiu Israel. Demoliu seus edifícios, abateu suas fortalezas; sobre a filha de Sião acumulou dores sobre dores.6 Vau. Arrombou-lhe a tenda, como um jardim, e devastou seu santuário. O Senhor aboliu em Sião festas e sábados. E no ardor de sua cólera repeliu rei e sacerdote.7 Zaim. Desgostou-se do altar e rejeitou seu santuário. Entregou nas mãos dos inimigos as muralhas de seus fortes; elevaram-se gritos no templo, como nos dias de festas.8 Het. Resolveu o Senhor demolir os muros da filha de Sião. Estendeu o cordel, sem deter-se antes que tudo destruísse, e derrubou o muro e o antemuro que, juntos, desabaram.9 Tet. Jazem sob escombros as suas portas que ele quebrou, partindo as traves. Acham-se no estrangeiro seu rei e príncipes. Não há mais oráculos. Mesmo os profetas não mais recebem as visões do Senhor.10 Iod. Sentados no chão, taciturnos, jazem os anciãos da filha de Sião. Jogaram poeira sobre os cabelos; vestiram-se com sacos; e as virgens de Jerusalém pendem a fronte para a terra.11 Caf. Ardiam-me os olhos, de tantas lágrimas; fremiam minhas entranhas. Minha bílis se espalhou por terra, ante a ruína da filha de meu povo, quando nas ruas da cidade desfaleciam os meninos e as crianças de peito.12 Lamed. Onde há pão {e onde há vinho}?!, diziam eles às mães, desfalecendo, quais feridos, nas ruas da cidade, e entregando a alma no regaço materno.13 Mem. Que dizer? A quem te comparar, filha de Jerusalém? Quem irá salvar-te e consolar-te, ó virgem, filha de Sião? É imensa como o mar tua ruína: quem poderá curar-te?14 Nun. Os teus profetas tinham visões apenas extravagantes e balofas. Não manifestaram tua malícia, o que teria poupado teu exílio. Os oráculos que te davam eram apenas mentiras e enganos.15 Samec. Todos os transeuntes, ao te verem, batem palmas, e assobiando meneiam a cabeça sobre a filha de Jerusalém. Eis a cidade da qual diziam ser a beleza perfeita, a alegria do universo.16 Pe. Abrem a boca contra ti todos os teus inimigos. Escarnecem e rangem os dentes. Nós destruímos, dizem eles, eis o dia esperado, estamos nele, estamos vendo!17 Ain. Realizou o Senhor o seu desígnio, executando as ameaças que outrora proferira. E destruiu sem piedade. À tua custa contentou o inimigo, exaltando o poder de teus adversários.18 Sade. Seu coração clama ao Senhor. Ó muralha da filha de Sião, transborda dia e noite a torrente de tuas lágrimas! Não te dês descanso, e teus olhos não cessem de chorar!19 Cof. Levanta-te à noite; grita ao início de cada vigília; que se derrame teu coração ante a face do Senhor. Ergue para ele as mãos, pela vida de teus filhos que caem de inanição, em todos os cantos das ruas.20 Res. Olhai, Senhor, e considerai! A quem jamais tratastes assim? Como! Mães a devorar os seus frutos, suas criancinhas de colo! Foram massacrados sacerdotes e profetas no santuário do Senhor!21 Sin. Jazem pelo chão nas ruas o menino e o velho. Virgens e jovens pereceram pelo gládio. Matastes, no dia de vossa cólera, imolastes sem piedade.22 Tau. Convocastes como para uma festa a multidão de terrores. No dia do furor divino ninguém fugiu, nenhum escapou. E aqueles que criei e eduquei meu inimigo os exterminou!

1 [Aleph] How has the Lord darkened the daughter of Zion in his anger! He has cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel and not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger!2 [Beth] The Lord has destroyed and has not forgiven; he has destroyed in his wrath all the habitations of Jacob; he has thrown down to the ground the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he has polluted the kingdom and its princes.3 [Gimel] He has cut off in [his] fierce anger all the horn of Israel; he has caused his right hand to draw back in the presence of the enemy, and he burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, [which] devours round about.4 [Daleth] He has bent his bow like an enemy; he strengthened his right hand as an adversary and slew everything of beauty that could be seen in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he poured out his fury like fire.5 [He] The Lord was as an enemy, he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all her palaces; he has dissipated his strong holds and has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.6 [Vau] And he has violently taken away his tabernacle as [if it were of] a garden; he has destroyed his congregation; the LORD has caused the solemnities and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and has rejected in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.7 [Zain] The Lord has cast off his altar; he has abhorred his sanctuary; he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have shouted in the house of the LORD as in the day of a feast.8 [Cheth] The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; he has stretched out the line; he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they were destroyed together.9 [Teth] Her gates were thrown to the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes [are carried off] among the Gentiles; there is no law; nor have her prophets found vision from the LORD.10 [Jod] The elders of the daughter of Zion sat upon the ground [and] are silent: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the daughters of Jerusalem hung their heads down to the ground.11 [Caph] My eyes fail with tears; my bowels are troubled; my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and the sucklings faint in the streets of the city.12 [Lamed] They said to their mothers, Where [is] the wheat and the wine? fainting as the dead in the streets of the city, pouring out their souls into their mothers' bosom.13 [Mem] What witness shall I take to thee? Or unto whom shall I liken thee O daughter of Jerusalem? Unto whom shall I compare thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach [is] as great as the sea: who shall heal thee?14 [Nun] Thy prophets have preached vanity and foolishness unto thee; and they have not uncovered thine iniquity to turn away thy captivity but have preached unto thee vain prophecies and digressions.15 [Samech] All that passed by clapped [their] hands over thee and whistled and wagged their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying], [Is] this the city that [men] called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?16 [Pe] All thine enemies opened their mouth regarding thee; they whistled and gnashed their teeth; they said, Swallow [her] up; certainly this [is] the day that we looked for; we have found it, we have seen [it].17 [Ain] The LORD has done [that] which he had determined; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded from [the] time of old; he has destroyed and has not forgiven; and he has caused [thine] enemy to rejoice over thee; he has raised up the horn of thine adversaries.18 [Tsade] Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion; let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.19 [Koph] Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches; pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street.20 [Resh] Look, O LORD, and consider unto whom thou hast shaken thus. Shall the women eat their fruit, the little ones that they are bringing up? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?21 [Schin] The young and the old lay on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men fell by the sword; thou hast slain [them] in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed [and] hast not forgiven.22 [Tau] Thou hast called as to a day of solemnity my terrors from everywhere, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger no one escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up my enemy has consumed.: