What my eyes see grieves me— all the suffering of the daughters in my city.

class="psalm-acrostic">צ (Tsade)

For no good reason my enemies hunted me down like a bird.

The waters closed over my head; I thought I was about to die.

class="psalm-acrostic">ק (Qof)

I have called on your name, O class="small-caps" >Lord, from the deepest pit.

You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!”

You came near on the day I called to you; you said, “Do not fear!”

class="psalm-acrostic">ר (Resh)

O Lord, you championed my cause; you redeemed my life.

You have seen the wrong done to me, O class="small-caps" >Lord; pronounce judgment on my behalf!

My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.

Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs.

class="psalm-acrostic">ת (Tav)

Pay them back what they deserve, O class="small-caps" >Lord, according to what they have done.

Give them a distraught heart; may your curse be on them!

Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the class="small-caps" >Lord’s heaven.

class="psalm-acrostic">א (Alef)

The Prophet Speaks

Alas! Gold has lost its luster; pure gold loses value. Jewels are scattered on every street corner.

class="psalm-acrostic">ב (Bet)

The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in gold— Alas!—but now they are treated like broken clay pots, made by a potter.

class="psalm-acrostic">ג (Gimel)

Even the jackals nurse their young at their breast, but my people are cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness.

class="psalm-acrostic">ד (Dalet)

The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, but no one gives them even a morsel.

class="psalm-acrostic">ה (He)

Those who once feasted on delicacies are now starving to death in the streets. Those who grew up wearing expensive clothes are now dying amid garbage.

class="psalm-acrostic">ו (Vav)

The punishment of my people exceeds that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no one to help her.

class="psalm-acrostic">ז (Zayin)

Our consecrated ones were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies more ruddy than corals, their hair like lapis lazuli.

class="psalm-acrostic">ח (Khet)

Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.

class="psalm-acrostic">ט (Tet)

Those who die by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, those who waste away, struck down from lack of food.

class="psalm-acrostic">י (Yod)

The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed.

class="psalm-acrostic">כ (Kaf)

The class="small-caps" >Lord fully vented his wrath; he poured out his fierce anger. He started a fire in Zion; it consumed her foundations.

class="psalm-acrostic">ל (Lamed)

Neither the kings of the earth nor the people of the lands ever thought that enemy or foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.