Chorus sings in Hebrew, soloists in English, unless otherwise noted. Verses in the Hebrew are underlined; some are set only in part.
Translation by Robert Alter
Tacet
Eichah yashva badad
How she sits alone,
ha’ir rabati am
the city once great with people.
Lamentations 1:1, 1:2 (parts)
Eichah yashva badad
ha’ir rabati am
Haitah ke almanah
Bacho tivkeh balailah
ve dimatah al lecheilah
How she sits alone,
the city once great with people.
She has become like a widow.
She weeps on through the night,
and her tears are on her cheek.
Lam. 1:4 (part)
Darchei Tsion avelot
mi b’li ba’ei moed
kol sh’areiha shomeimin.
The roads of Zion mourn
without festival pilgrims.
All her gates are desolate.
Lam. 1:6 (part)
Ve yetsei mi bat Tsion
kol hadarah.
Hayu sareiha k’ayalim
Lo matzu mireh.
And from Zion’s Daughter is departed
all her glory.
Her nobles have become like stags
that find no pasture.
Lam. 5:1, 5:9, 5:14
Zachor Adonai me hayah lanu
Habita ur’ei et cherpateinu. Be-nafsheinu navi lachmeinu
mi-penei cherev hamidbar
Zekenim mi-sha’ar shavatu
bachurim mi-neginatam
Recall, O Lord, what befell us,
Look and see our disgrace.
At the cost of our lives we got bread
because of the desert sword.
Elders were no more in the gates,
nor young men at their songs.
Lam. 2:13
Ma aidech ma adameilach
Habat Yerushalayim?
Ma ashveilach va’anachamech
Betulat bat Tsion?
Ki gadol ka yam shivrech.
Mi yirpalach?
How can I bear witness for you, what can I liken to you,
O Daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I compare to you and console you,
O Virgin, Zion’s Daughter?
For great as the sea is your breaking.
Who can heal you?
Lam. 5:18
Al har Tsion sheshamem
Shualim hilechu vo.
On Mount Zion which is desolate
foxes go about.
Qohelet [Ecclesiastes] 1:1, 1:2, 1:14
Divrei Kohelet ben David
melech be-Yerushalayim
Havel havalim, havel havalim
hakol hevel u re’ut ruach
The words of Qohelet son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Merest breath, merest breath,
all is mere breath and herding the wind.
Qohelet 1:3, 1:14
Mah yitron la-’adam be kol amalo sheh-yaamol
tachat ha-shamesh
Ra’iti et kol ha’amasim
sheh-na’asu tachat ha-shamesh
ve hineh hakol hevel u re’ut ruach.
What gain is there for man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?
I have seen all the deeds
that are done under the sun,
and behold, all is mere breath and herding the wind.
Ve hineh hakol hevel u re’ut ruach.
And behold, all is mere breath and herding the wind.
Qohelet 1:18
Ki be-rov chochmah rav ka’as ve yosif da’at yosif machov
For in much wisdom is much worry, and he who adds knowledge adds pain.
Qohelet [Ecclesiastes] 1:1, 1:2, 1:14
Divrei Kohelet ben David
melech be-Yerushalayim
Havel havalim, havel havalim
hakol hevel u re’ut ruach
The words of Qohelet son of David,
king in Jerusalem.
Merest breath, merest breath,
all is mere breath and herding the wind
Qohelet 1:3, 1:14
Mah yitron la-’adam be kol amalo sheh-yaamol tachat ha-shamesh
Ra’iti et kol ha’amasim
sheh-na’asu tachat ha-shamesh
ve hineh hakol hevel u re’ut ruach.
What gain is there for man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?
I have seen all the deeds
that are done under the sun,
and behold, all is mere breath and herding the wind.
Ve hineh hakol hevel u re’ut ruach
And behold, all is mere breath and herding the wind.
Qohelet 1:17
Ve etnah libi va’adat chochmah
ve da’at holelot ve sichlut
yadati sheh gam zeh hu raion ruach
And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know revelry and folly,
for this, too, is herding the wind.
Gam zeh hu raion ruach
This too is herding the wind.
Qohelet 1:18
Ki be-rov chochmah rav ka’as ve yosif da’at yosif machov
For in much wisdom is much worry, and he who adds knowledge adds pain.
Ezekiel 13:4, 13:6, 13:9 (parts)
Ke-shualim bachoravot
neviyeicha Yisra’el hayu
Chazu shav ve kesem kazav
Besod ami lo yihyu
ve el admit Yisrael lo yavou
Like foxes among the ruins
your prophets have become, O Israel.
They saw empty visions and false divinations.
They shall not take part in the council of My people
and they shall not come to the soil of Israel.
Ya’an uvya’an…
Surely because…
Ezekiel 13:10 (part)
Ya’an uvya’an hitu le-ami
lemor shalom ve ein shalom
Lemor shalom…
Surely because they misled My people,
saying, All is well, when it was not well!
(repeats “saying, All is well” in Hebrew)
Ve ein shalom!
[But] it was not well!
Jeremiah 6:13
Ki miktanam ve ad-gedolam
kulo botzea batzah
uminavi ve ad-kohen
kulo oseh shakehr.
For from the least of them to their greatest
all of them chase gain,
and from prophet to priest
all of them work lies.
Jeremiah 6:14
Ve irapu et shever ami al-nikala
lemor shalom shalom...
Lemor shalom shalom…
And they would heal My people’s wound easily saying,
“All is well, all is well,” but it is not well!
(repeats “saying, All is well, all is well” in Hebrew)
Ve ein shalom!
But it [is] not well!
Jeremiah 6:15
Hovishu ki toevah asu
Gam bosh lo yevoshu
Gam hachlim lo yada’u
They acted shamefully, for they performed abominations.
They were not even ashamed,
they did not even know how to be disgraced.
Lachen yipelu vanoflim
Be’et pikadtim yikashelu amar Adonai.
Therefore shall they fall among those who fall.
When I exact judgment from them, they shall stumble– said the LORD.
Eli eli lamah azavtani
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Psalm 22:1
Eli eli lamah azavtani
rachok mi-shuati divrei sha’agati
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Far from my rescue are the words that I roar.
Psalm 22:11, 22:20, 22:21 (parts)
Al tirchak mimeni
Ki tzara kerova
Hatzila me-cherev nafshi
Mi yad-kelev yechidati
Hoshiyeni mi pi aryeh
Do not be far from me,
For distress is near.
Save from the sword my life,
From the cur’s power my person.
Rescue me from the lion’s mouth.
TACET
Isaiah 42:1
Hen ‘avdi etmochbo
Bechiri ratztah nafshi
Natati ruchi alav
Mishpat lagoyim yotzi
Look, My servant, I have stayed him up,
My chosen one, I have greatly favored.
I have set my spirit on him,
He shall bring forth justice to the nations.
Isaiah 49:4,49:8 (parts), 49:11
Ve ani amarti lerik yagati
Le tohu ve hevel kochi chileti
Koh amar Adonai:
Be’et ratzon aniticha
Uvyom yeshua azarticha
Ve samit kol harai la darech
Umsilotai yerumun.
And I had thought, “In vain have I toiled,
For naught, for mere breath, my strength have I sapped.”
Thus said the Lord:
In an hour of favor I answered you
And on a day of rescue I aided you.
And I will make all My mountains a road,
And My highways shall rise.
Isaiah 42:6,42:16 (parts)
Ani Adonai keraticha ve-tzedek
Ve achzek be-yadeicha
Ve etzarcha ve etencha livrit ‘am le-or goyim,
Ve holachti ‘ivrim
Be-derech lo yada’u
Asim machshach lifneihem la- ’or
Uma’akashim lemishor.
I the Lord have called you in righteousness
And held your hand,
And preserved you and made you a covenant for peoples and a light of the nations,
And I will lead the blind
On a way they did not know,
I will turn darkness before them to light,
And rough ground to a level plain.
Qohelet [Ecclesiastes] 11:1
Shalach lachmeicha al penei hamayim
ki ve rov hayamim timtza’einu
Send out your bread upon the waters,
for in the long course of time you will find it.
Qohelet 11:2
Ten chelek le shivah ve gam lishmonah
ki lo teda mah yihyeh ra’a al ha’aretz
Give a share to seven and even to eight,
for you know not what evil will be on earth.
Qohelet 11:8
Ki imshanim harbeh yihyeh ha’adam
be chulam yismach
ve yizkor et yimei hachoshech
Ki harbei yihyu.
Kol sheba havel.
Should a man live many years,
let him rejoice in all of them,
and let him recall the days of darkness,
For they will be many.
Whatever comes is mere breath.
Qohelet 1:1, 1:14 (reprise)
Divrei Kohelet ben David
melech be-Yerushalayim
Havel havalim
hakol hevel u re’ut ruach
The words of Qohelet son of David,
king in Jerusalem.
Merest breath,
all is mere breath and herding the wind.
Joel 1:2
Shimuzot ha-zekenim
ve ha’azinu kol yoshvei ha’aretz
Hehaitah zot bimeichem
ve im bimei avoteichem?
Hear this, you elders,
and give ear, all dwellers of the land.
Has its like happened in your days
and in the days of your fathers?
Joel 1:3
Aleiha livneichem saperu
uveneichem livneihem
uveneichem le dor acher
Recount it to your children
and to your children’s children
and to their children in a generation to come.
Text from the traditional Jewish prayer which ends the Mourner’s Kaddish.
Translation Public Domain.
Oseh shalom bimromav
Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu
Ve al kol Israel
Ve al kol yoshvei tevel
Ve imru: Amein.
May the One who makes peace in the heavens
Make peace also for us,
And for all Israel,
And for all who dwell on earth,
And let us say, Amen.