Мидраш к Эйха 2:16

“All your enemies opened their mouths wide against you; they whistled and gnashed teeth, they said: We have demolished! Indeed, this is the day for which we hoped; we found, we saw” (Lamentations 2:16).
They “opened their mouths wide against you.” Why does peh come before ayin?¹¹⁹The verses in chapter 2 of Lamentations form an alphabetical acrostic, except the verse that begins with peh (verse 16) comes before the verse that begins with ayin (verse 17), despite the fact that ayin precedes peh in the alphabet. Because they would say with their mouths what they had not seen with their eyes.¹²⁰The word for mouth is peh, whereas the word for eye is ayin. The enemies rejoiced over their projected victory before it even happened.

(Ib. 2, 16) All thy enemies open their mouth wide against thee. Rabba said in the name of R. Jochanan: "Why is the letter Peh placed before the letter Ayen? Because of the spies, who said with their mouths what they had not seen with their eyes." They do not call on the Lord. Rab said: "This refers to the judges." And Samuel said: "This refers to the teachers of children who are doing their work faithlessly."