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 How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger "! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

2 Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.

3 In fierce anger he has cut off every horn ""of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.

4 Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.

5 The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah.

6 He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.

7 The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy; they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed festival.

8 The LORD determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the LORD.

10 The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers' arms.

13 What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?

14 The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.

15 All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"

16 All your enemies open their mouths wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, "We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it."

17 The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn "of your foes.

18 The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.

19 Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.

20 "Look, LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 "Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.

22 "As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the LORD's anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed."