Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us: behold, and look on our reproach.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
Our inheritance has been turned away to aliens, our houses to strangers:
3 We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
we are become orphans, we have no father, our mothers are as widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
We have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold to us [for a burden] on our neck:
5 We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
we have been persecuted, we have laboured, we have had no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
Egypt gave the hand [to us], Assur to their own satisfaction.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
Our fathers sinned, [and] are not: we have borne their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
Servants have ruled over us: there is none to ransom [us] out of their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
We shall bring in our bread with [danger of] our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because of the storms of famine.
11 Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
They humbled the women in Sion, the virgins in the cities of Juda.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
Princes were hanged up by their hands: the elders were not honored.
13 Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
The chosen men lifted up [the voice in] weeping, and the youths fainted under the wood.
14 The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
And the elders ceased from the gate, the chosen men ceased from their music.
15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance is 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: yes, woe to us! for we have sinned.
17 Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
For this has grief come; our heart is sorrowful: for this our eyes are darkened.
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
Over the mountain of Sion, because it is made desolate, foxes have walked therein.
19 You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
But you, O Lord, shall dwell for ever; your throne [shall endure] to generation and generation.
20 Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
Therefore will you utterly forget us, and abandon us a long time?
21 Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
Turn us, O Lord, to you, and we shall be turned; and renew our days as before.
22 unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
For you have indeed rejected us; you have been very angry against us.
