1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

1 Aleph. Quomodo obtexit caligine in furore suo
Dominus filiam Sion;
projecit de cælo in terram
inclytam Israël,
et non est recordatus scabelli pedum suorum
in die furoris sui!

2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

2 Beth. Præcipitavit Dominus, nec pepercit
omnia speciosa Jacob:
destruxit in furore suo
munitiones virginis Juda,
et dejecit in terram;
polluit regnum et principes ejus.

3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

3 Ghimel. Confregit in ira furoris sui
omne cornu Israël;
avertit retrorsum dexteram suam
a facie inimici,
et succendit in Jacob quasi ignem
flammæ devorantis in gyro.

4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

4 Daleth. Tetendit arcum suum quasi inimicus,
firmavit dexteram suam quasi hostis,
et occidit omne quod pulchrum erat visu
in tabernaculo filiæ Sion;
effudit quasi ignem
indignationem suam.

5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

5 He. Factus est Dominus velut inimicus,
præcipitavit Israël:
præcipitavit omnia mœnia ejus,
dissipavit munitiones ejus,
et replevit in filia Juda
humiliatum et humiliatam.

6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

6 Vau. Et dissipavit quasi hortum tentorium suum;
demolitus est tabernaculum suum.
Oblivioni tradidit Dominus in Sion
festivitatem et sabbatum;
et in opprobrium, et in indignationem furoris sui,
regem et sacerdotem.

7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

7 Zain. Repulit Dominus altare suum;
maledixit sanctificationi suæ:
tradidit in manu inimici
muros turrium ejus.
Vocem dederunt in domo Domini
sicut in die solemni.

8 The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

8 Heth. Cogitavit Dominus dissipare
murum filiæ Sion;
tetendit funiculum suum,
et non avertit manum suam a perditione:
luxitque antemurale,
et murus pariter dissipatus est.

9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord.

9 Teth. Defixæ sunt in terra portæ ejus,
perdidit et contrivit vectes ejus;
regem ejus et principes ejus in gentibus:
non est lex,
et prophetæ ejus non invenerunt
visionem a Domino.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

10 Jod. Sederunt in terra, conticuerunt
senes filiæ Sion;
consperserunt cinere capita sua,
accincti sunt ciliciis:
abjecerunt in terram capita sua
virgines Jerusalem.

11 Mine eyes do 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 swoon in the streets of the city.

11 Caph. Defecerunt præ lacrimis oculi mei,
conturbata sunt viscera mea;
effusum est in terra jecur meum
super contritione filiæ populi mei,
cum deficeret parvulus et lactens
in plateis oppidi.

12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.

12 Lamed. Matribus suis dixerunt:
Ubi est triticum et vinum?
cum deficerent quasi vulnerati
in plateis civitatis,
cum exhalarent animas suas
in sinu matrum suarum.

13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?

13 Mem. Cui comparabo te, vel cui assimilabo te,
filia Jerusalem?
cui exæquabo te, et consolabor te,
virgo, filia Sion?
magna est enim velut mare contritio tua:
quis medebitur tui?

14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

14 Nun. Prophetæ tui viderunt tibi
falsa et stulta;
nec aperiebant iniquitatem tuam,
ut te ad pœnitentiam provocarent;
viderunt autem tibi assumptiones falsas,
et ejectiones.

15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

15 Samech. Plauserunt super te manibus
omnes transeuntes per viam;
sibilaverunt et moverunt caput suum
super filiam Jerusalem:
Hæccine est urbs, dicentes, perfecti decoris,
gaudium universæ terræ?

16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

16 Phe. Aperuerunt super te os suum
omnes inimici tui:
sibilaverunt, et fremuerunt dentibus,
et dixerunt: Devorabimus:
en ista est dies quam exspectabamus;
invenimus, vidimus.

17 The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.

17 Ain. Fecit Dominus quæ cogitavit;
complevit sermonem suum,
quem præceperat a diebus antiquis:
destruxit, et non pepercit,
et lætificavit super te inimicum,
et exaltavit cornu hostium tuorum.

18 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.

18 Sade. Clamavit cor eorum ad Dominum
super muros filiæ Sion:
Deduc quasi torrentem lacrimas
per diem et noctem;
non des requiem tibi,
neque taceat pupilla oculi tui.

19 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.

19 Coph. Consurge, lauda in nocte,
in principio vigiliarum;
effunde sicut aquam cor tuum
ante conspectum Domini:
leva ad eum manus tuas
pro anima parvulorum tuorum,
qui defecerunt in fame
in capite omnium compitorum.

20 ¶ Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

20 Res. Vide, Domine, et considera
quem vindemiaveris ita.
Ergone comedent mulieres fructum suum,
parvulos ad mensuram palmæ?
si occiditur in sanctuario Domini
sacerdos et propheta?

21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.

21 Sin. Jacuerunt in terra foris
puer et senex;
virgines meæ et juvenes mei
ceciderunt in gladio:
interfecisti in die furoris tui,
percussisti, nec misertus es.

22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

22 Thau. Vocasti quasi ad diem solemnem,
qui terrerent me de circuitu;
et non fuit in die furoris Domini qui effugeret,
et relinqueretur:
quos educavi et enutrivi,
inimicus meus consumpsit eos.