How the Lord has detested the Congregation of Zion in his fierce anger. He threw down from the heavens to the earth the glory of Israel and he did not rememberthe Temple that washis footstoolnor did he spare itin the day of hisfierce anger.

The Lord destroyed and did not spare any of the choice dwellings of the House of Jacob. In his anger he destroyed the Congregation of the House of Judah and brought them to the ground. He broke the kingdom, crushed her leaders.

In his fierce anger he cut off all the glory of Israel. He drew back his right hand and did not help his people from before the enemy and he burned in the House of Jacob like a searing fire which consumes on all sides.

He drew his bow and shot arrows at me like an enemy. He stood ready at the rightof Nebuchadnezzar and aided him as if hewereoppressing his people, the House of Israel. And he killed every young man and everything that was beautiful to see. In the tent of the Congregation of Zion he poured out his anger like a burning fire.

The Lord has become like an enemy. He destroyed Israel. He destroyed all her forts and razed all her open cities. He has increased in the Congregation of the House of Judah mourning and grief.

He uprooted his Temple like a garden. He razed the place appointed for the atonement of his people. The Lord has causedthe joy ofthe festival and the Sabbath to be forgotten and in his fierce anger he hates the king and high priest.

The Lord has abandoned the house of his altar. He has trampled his Temple. He has handed over the walls of the forts to the enemy. They raised a shout in the Temple of the Lord like the shout of the people of the House of Israel praying in it on the day of Passover.

The Lord resolved to destroy the wall of the Congregation of Zion. He swung the plummet and did not turn back his hand from destroying it. He caused the rampart and the wall to mourn; they were destroyed together.

Her gates have sunk into the earthbecause they slaughtered a pig and brought its blood over them. He has destroyed and shattered her doorposts. Her king and rulers were exiled among the nationsbecause they did not keep the decrees of Torah, as if they had not received it on Mount Sinai. Even her prophets had the holy spirit of prophecy withheld from them and they were not told a word of prophecy frombeforethe Lord.

The Elders of the Congregation of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They throw woodashes upon their heads. They gird sackcloth upon their bodies. The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads tothe dust ofthe earth.

My eyes are spent with tears, my bowels are piled up, my liver is spilt onto the ground because of the destruction of the Congregation of my people as youths and infants cried out in the open places of the cities.

The young men of Israel ask their mother, “Where is the bread and wine?” as they thirst in the same way as one woundedby the sword suffers from thirst in the open places of the cities, as their life is poured out from hunger into their mother’s bosom.

What can I bring to bear witness to you? Or to what can I compare you, O Congregation of Jerusalem? How shall I befriend you that I may console you, O Virgin of the Congregation of Zion? For great is your breaking, as great as thebreaking of the waves of the Great Sea during the season of their gales. And who is the doctor who can heal you of your affliction?

The false prophets within you, they have seen falsehood for you and there is no substance to their prophecies. Nor did they make known the punishment that would overtake you **as a result of your sin, in order to make you turn back in repentance.**Rather, they prophesied to you vain prophecies and erring words.

All those who passed by the way clapped their hands at you. They hissedwith their lipsand wagged their heads at the Congregation of Jerusalem.They said with their mouths,“Is this the citywhich our fathers and elders of oldcalled the perfection of beautyand loveliness;the joy of all the earth’s inhabitants?”

All your enemies open their mouths at you. They hissed with their lips and gnashed their teeth and say, “We have destroyed! Surely this is the day we have waited for. We have found it; we have seen it.”

The Lord has done what he planned. He completed the Memra of his mouth that he commandedto Moses the prophet**long ago:**that if the children of Israel did not keep the commandments of the Lord he was going to punish them. He destroyed and had no mercy. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you for he has exalted your oppressors.

The heart of Israel cried out before the Lord, to have mercy on them. O wall of the city of Zion, weep tears like a torrent day and night. Give nocomfort to your sorrows, toslackenin the prayer that isyours. May your eyes not ceasefrom weeping.

Arise,O Congregation of Israel dwelling in exile.Busy yourselfwith Mishnahin the night,for the Shekinah of the Lord is dwelling before you, and with the words of Torah at the beginning of the morning watch. Pour out like waterthe crookedness ofyour heartand turn in repentance. And pray in the synagogue before the face of the Lord. Raise your hands to him in prayer for the life of your childrenwho thirst with hunger at the head of every open market.

See, O Lord, and observefrom heavenagainst whom you have turned. Thus is itright for the daughters of Israel to eat the fruit of their wombs due to starvation, the lovely boys wrapped in fine linen? The Attribute of Justice replied, and said, “Is it right to kill priest and prophet in the Temple of the LORD, as when you killed Zechariah son of Iddo, the High Priest and faithful prophet in the Temple of the Lord on the Day of Atonement because he admonished you not to do evil before the Lord?”

The young and the oldwho were accustomed to recline on pillows of fine wool and upon ivory couches were prostrate on the earth of the open markets. My virgins and youths have fallen,killedby the sword. You have killed in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered and shown no pity.

You will declare freedom to your people, the House of Israel, by the hand of King Messiah just as you did by the hand of Moses and Aaronon the day when you brought Israel up from Egypt.My children will gatherall around,from every place to which they had been scatteredin the day of yourfierceanger, O Lord, and there was no escape for them nor any survivorsof those whom I hadwrappedin fine linen.And my enemies destroyed those whom I had raisedin royal comfort.