AYAKAH     𐤀𐤉𐤊𐤄

LAMENTATIONS

CHAPTER 1

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1 How Alone she sits, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces is become a tributary!

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2 She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her: All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.

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3 Yahudah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude; she abides among the nations, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her within the straits.

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4 The ways of Tsa'yun (Tsa’yoon) do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her ka’ahn (priests) do sigh: her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

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5 Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper; for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.

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6 From the daughter of Tsa'yun all her splendor is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

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7 Yaru'shalam remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her desirables that were from the days of old: when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none did help her, The adversaries saw her, they did mock at her desolations.

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8 Yaru'shalam has grievously transgressed; therefore she is become as an unclean thing; all who esteemed her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yes, she sighs, and turns backward.

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9 Her filthiness was in her skirts; she didn't remember her latter end; therefore is she come down wonderfully; she has no comforter: see, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), my affliction; for the enemy has exalted himself.

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10 The adversary has spread out his hand on all her desirables: for she has seen that the nations are entered into her Made Apart Place, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.

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11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their desirables for food to refresh the being: look, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), and see; for I am become despised.

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12 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, With which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has afflicted in the day of his fierce anger.

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13 From on high has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; He has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: He has made me desolate and faint all the day.

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14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand; They are knit together, they are come up on my neck; he has made my strength to fail: The Sovereign has brought me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.

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15 The Sovereign has placed at nothing all my mighty men in the midst of me; He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men: The Sovereign has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Yahudah.

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16 For these I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water; Because the comforter who should refresh my being is far from me: My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.

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17 Tsa'yun spreads forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has commanded concerning Ya'aqab, that those who are around him should be his adversaries: Yaru'shalam is among them as an unclean thing.

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18 Righteous is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH); for I have rebelled against his commandment: Please hear all you peoples, and see my sorrow: My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

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19 I called for my lovers, they deceived me: My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city, While they sought them food to refresh their beings.

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20 See, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH); for I am in distress; my heart is troubled; My heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: Abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is as death.

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21 They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me; All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it: You will bring the day that you have proclaimed, and they shall be like me.

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22 Let all their evil come before you; Do to them, as you have done to me for all my transgressions: For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

CHAPTER 2

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1 How has The Sovereign covered the daughter of Tsa'yun with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down from shama’ym to the earth the beauty of Yashar'AL, And hasn't remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

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2 The Sovereign has swallowed up all the habitations of Ya'aqab, and has not pitied: He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Yahudah; He has brought them down to the ground; he has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

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3 He has cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Yashar'AL; He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: He has burned up Ya'aqab like a flaming fire, which devours all around.

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4 He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Tsa'yun he has poured out his wrath like fire.

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5 The Sovereign is become as an enemy, he has swallowed up Yashar'AL; He has swallowed up all her palaces, he has destroyed his strongholds; He has multiplied in the daughter of Yahudah mourning and lamentation.

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6 He has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; he has destroyed his place of assembly: 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has caused solemn assembly and Shabath to be forgotten in Tsa'yun, Has despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the ka’ahn (priest).

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7 The Sovereign has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his Made Apart Place; He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: They have made a noise in the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), as in the day of a solemn assembly.

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8 Purpose has 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) done to destroy the wall of the daughter of Tsa'yun; He has stretched out the line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; He has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.

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9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; Yes, her nab’ya (prophets) find no vision from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).

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10 The elders of the daughter of Tsa'yun sit on the ground, they keep silence; They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Yaru'shalam hang down their heads to the ground.

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11 My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

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12 They tell their mothers, Where is grain and wine? When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, When their being is poured out into their mothers' bosom.

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13 What shall I witness to you? what shall I liken to you, O daughter of Yaru'shalam? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Tsa'yun? For your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you?

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14 Your nab’ya (prophets) have seen for you false and foolish visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, but have seen for you false oracles and causes of banishment.

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15 All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Yaru'shalam, Is this the city that men called The completion of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

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16 All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you; 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.

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17 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has done that which He purposed; He has fulfilled His Word that He commanded in the days of old; He has thrown down, and has not pitied: He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.

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18 Their heart cried to The Sovereign: wall of the daughter of Tsa'yun, let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no respite; don't let the apple of your eye cease.

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19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of The Sovereign: Lift up your hands toward him for the being of your young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.

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20 Look, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), and see to whom you have done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the ka’ahn (priest) and the nab’ya (prophet) be killed in the Made Apart Place Of The Sovereign?

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21 The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: You have killed them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered, no compassion.

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22 You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side; There was none that escaped or remained in the day of anger of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH): Those that I have dandled and brought up has my enemy consumed.

CHAPTER 3

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1 I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.

3 Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day.

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4 My flesh and my skin has he made old; he has broken my bones.

5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with gall and travail.

6 He has made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.

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7 He has walled me about, that I can't go forth; he has made my chain heavy.

8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone; he has made my paths crooked.

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10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.

11 He has turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he has made me desolate.

12 He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

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13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.

14 I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.

15 He has filled me with bitterness, he has drenched me with wormwood.

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16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes.

17 You have removed my being far off from shalum (peace); I forgot prosperity.

18 I said, My strength is perished, and my expectation from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).

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19 Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20 My being still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.

21 This I recall to my mind; therefore have I expectancy.

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22 The loving kindness of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), for we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn't fail.

23 They are new every rising; great is your trustworthiness.

24 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) Is My Portion, says my being; therefore will I hope in him.

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25 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) is good to those who wait for him, to the being that seeks him.

26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the saving of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).

27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

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28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.

29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.

30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled full with reproach.

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31 For The Sovereign will not cast off forever.

32 For though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.

33 For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

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34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,

35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of The Most High,

36 To subvert a man in his cause, The Sovereign doesn't approve.

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37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when The Sovereign doesn't command it?

38 Doesn't evil and good come out of the mouth of The Most High?

39 Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his transgressions?

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40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).

41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands to AL in the shama’ym.

42 We have transgressed and have rebelled; you have not pardoned.

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43 You have covered with anger and pursued us; you have killed, you have not shown compassion.

44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.

45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.

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46 All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

47 Fear and the pit are come on us, devastation and destruction.

48 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

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49 My eye pours down, and doesn't cease, without any intermission,

50 Until 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) look down, and see from shama’ym.

51 My eye affects my being, because of all the daughters of my city.

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52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.

53 They have cut off my khaYah (life) in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.

54 Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.

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55 I called on your name, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), out of the lowest dungeon.

56 You heard my voice; don't hide your ear at my breathing, at my cry.

57 You drew near in the day that I called on you; you said, Don't be afraid.

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58 Sovereign, you have pleaded the causes of my being; you have redeemed my khaYah (life).

59 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.

60 You have seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.

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61 You have heard their reproach, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), and all their devices against me,

62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.

63 You see their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.

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64 You will render to them a recompense, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), according to the work of their hands.

65 You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.

66 You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the shama’ym of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH).

CHAPTER 4

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1 How has the gold become dim! The most pure gold changed! The stones of the Made Apart Place are poured out at the head of every street.

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2 The precious sons of Tsa'yun, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

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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.

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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.

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5 Those who did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: Those who were brought up in crimson scarlet embrace dunghills.

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6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sadam, That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid on her. 

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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.

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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 is become like a stick.

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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.

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10 The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

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11 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has accomplished his wrath, he has poured out his fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Tsa'yun, which has devoured its foundations.

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12 The sovereigns of the earth didn't trust, neither all the inhabitants of the world, That the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Yaru'shalam.

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13 Because of the iniquities of her nab’ya’Yah (prophets), the iniquities of her ka’ahn’Yah (priests), That have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

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14 They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, So that men can't touch their garments.

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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 no more stay.

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16 The anger of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) has scattered them; he will no more regard them: They didn't respect the persons of the priests, they didn't favor the elders.

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17 Our eyes do yet fail for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

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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 is come.

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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.

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20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), was taken in their pits; Of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall dwell among the nations.

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21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Adum, that dwell in the land of A’uts (A’oots): The cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.

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22 The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Tsa'yun; He will no more carry you away into captivity: He will visit your iniquity, O daughter of Adum; He will uncover your transgressions.

CHAPTER 5

1 Remember,  O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), what has come unto us: Look, and see our reproach.

2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, Our houses to aliens.

3 We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows.

4 We have drunken our water with a price, our wood is sold to us.

5 Our pursuers are on our necks: We are weary, and have no rest.

6 We have given the hand to Ma’tsara’ym, To Ashur, to be satisfied with bread.

7 Our fathers transgressed, and are no more; We have borne their iniquities.

8 Servants rule over us: There is none to save us out of their hand.

9 We get our bread at the peril of our beings, Because of the sword of the wilderness.

10 Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.

11 They ravished the women in Tsa'yun, The virgins in the cities of Yahudah.

12 Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not esteemed.

13 The young men bare the mill; The children stumbled under the wood.

14 The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.

15 The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.

16 The crown is fallen from our head: Woe to us! for we have transgressed!

17 For this our heart is faint; For these our eyes are dim;

18 For the mountain of Tsa'yun that is desolate: The foxes walk on it.

19 You, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), remain forever; Your throne is from generation to generation.

20 Why do you forget us forever, forsake us for length of days?

21 Turn us to Yourself, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH), and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old.

22 You have been exceedingly angry with us!