AIN. My eye has poured out water, because He that should comfort me, that should restore my soul, has been removed far from me. My sons have been destroyed, because the enemy has prevailed.

My eye shall pour down torrents of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

until the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.

And David and his men lifted up their voice, and wept till there was no longer any power within them to weep.

My eye is troubled because of my wrath; I am worn out because of all my enemies.

Pity me, O Lord, for I am afflicted; my eye is troubled with indignation, my soul and my belly.

I am weary [of] crying, my throat has become hoarse; my eyes have failed by my waiting on my God.

As a swallow, so will I cry, and as a dove, so do I mourn; for my eyes have failed from looking to the height of heaven to the Lord, who has delivered me,

RHECHS. Behold, O Lord; for I am afflicted; my belly is troubled, and my heart is turned within me; for I have been grievously rebellious; abroad the sword has bereaved me, even as death at home.

I am pained in my bowels, my bowels, and the sensitive powers of my heart. My soul is in great commotion, my heart is torn. I will not be silent, for my soul has heard the sound of a trumpet, the cry of war, and of distress: it calls on destruction.

[ 16:14] They surrounded me with spears, aiming at my reins: without sparing me they poured out my gall upon the ground.

I am poured out like water, and all My bones are loosened; My heart in the midst of My belly has become like melting wax.

JOD. The hands of tender hearted women have boiled their own children; they became meat for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Therefore I said, Let me alone, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me for the breach of the daughter of my people.

Behold, [there is] a sound of the cry of the daughter of My people from a land afar off. Is not the Lord in Zion? Is there not a king there? Because they have provoked Me with their graven [images], and with strange vanities.

For the breach of the daughter of my people I have been saddened: in my perplexity pangs have seized upon me as of a woman in travail.

Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? Then would I weep for this my people day and night, [even] for the slain of the daughter of my people.

And you shall speak this word to them: Let your eyes shed tears day and night, and let them not cease; for the daughter of My people has been sorely bruised, and her plague is very grievous.

KOPH. Arise, rejoice in the night at the beginning of your watch: pour out your heart as water before the face of the Lord, lift up your hands to Him for the life of your infants, who faint from hunger at the top of all the streets.

RHECHS. Behold, O Lord, and see for whom You have gathered thus. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? The cook has made a gathering: shall the infants nursing at the breasts be slain? Will You slay the priest and prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord?

GIMEL. Nay, serpents have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as an ostrich in a desert.

DALETH. The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, and there is none to break it for them.

TETH. The slain with the sword were better than they that were slain with hunger; they have departed, pierced through from lack of the fruits of the field.

JOD. The hands of tender hearted women have boiled their own children; they became meat for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed [are] the barren, and [the] wombs which did not give birth, and breasts which did not nurse!'