There were five events that happened to our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz and five on the ninth of Av.On the seventeenth of Tammuz: The tablets were shattered; The tamid (daily) offering was cancelled; The [walls] of the city were breached; And Apostomos burned the Torah, and placed an idol in the Temple. On the ninth of Av It was decreed that our ancestors should not enter the land, The Temple was destroyed the first And the second time, Betar was captured, And the city was plowed up. When Av enters, they limit their rejoicing.

ל May this not happen to you. All who pass along the road—Look about and see:Is there any agony like mine,Which was dealt out to meWhen GOD afflicted meOn this day of wrath?

כ My eyes are spent with tears, My heart is in tumult, My being melts away Over the ruin of my poor people, As babes and sucklings languish In the squares of the city.

(34) Crushing under His feet All the prisoners of the earth. (35) To deny a man his rights In the presence of the Most High, (36) To wrong a man in his cause— This the Lord does not choose.

(19) To recall my distress and my misery Was wormwood and poison; (20) Whenever I thought of them, I was bowed low. (21) But this do I call to mind, Therefore I have hope: (22) The kindness of the LORD has not ended, His mercies are not spent. (23) They are renewed every morning— Ample is Your grace!

Take us back, O ETERNAL One, to Yourself,And let us come back;Renew our days as of old!

To provide for the mourners in Zion—
To give them a turban instead of ashes,The festive ointment instead of mourning, A garment of splendor instead of a drooping spirit. They shall be called terebinths of victory, Planted by GOD for glory’s sake.