Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us. Consider and look kindly upon our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
Our inheritance has been turned over to foreigners; our houses to outsiders.
3 We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
We have become orphans without a father; our mothers are like widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
We paid for our drinking water. We acquired our wood for a price.
5 We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
We were dragged by our necks. Being weary, no rest was given to us.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
We have given our hand to Egypt and to the Assyrians, so that we may be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
Our fathers have sinned, and are not. And we have carried their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
Servants have become rulers over us. There was no one to redeem us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
We obtained our bread at the risk of our lives, before the face of the sword, in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
Our skin was burned, as if by an oven, before the face of the tempest of the famine.
11 Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
They humiliated the women in Zion and the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
The leaders were suspended by their hand. They were not ashamed before the faces of the elders.
13 Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
They have sexually abused the adolescents, and the children were corrupted in the wood.
14 The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
The elders have ceased from the gates, the youths from the choir of the psalms.
15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
The gladness of our heart has failed, our singing has been turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned.
17 Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
Because of this, our heart became gloomy; for this reason, our eyes have been darkened:
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
because of mount Zion, because it was ruined. Foxes have wandered upon it.
19 You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
But you, O Lord, shall remain for eternity, your throne from generation to generation.
20 Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
Why would you forget us forever? Why would you forsake us for a long time?
21 Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
Convert us, O Lord, to you, and we shall be converted. Renew our days, as from the beginning.
22 unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
But you have utterly rejected us; you are vehemently angry against us.
