Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us! Look down and behold our reproach!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
Our inheritance is fallen to strangers, Our houses to aliens.
3 We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
We are orphans; we are without a father; Our mothers are as widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
Our water we drink for money; Our wood is sold to us.
5 We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
With the yoke upon our necks, we are driven; We are wearied, and have no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
Our fathers sinned; they are no more, And we bear their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
Servants rule over us; There is none that delivereth out of their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
With the peril of our lives we get our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
Our skin is parched like an oven Because of the burnings of hunger.
11 Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
Matrons in Zion have they ravished, And maidens in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
Princes were hanged up by their hand; The faces of the elders were not honored.
13 Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
Young men carried millstones, And boys fell under burdens of wood.
14 The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
The elders sit no more at the gate; The young men have ceased from their music.
15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
The joy of our heart is at an end; Our dancing is turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
The crown is fallen from our head; Woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17 Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
For this is our heart faint, For these things our eyes are dim;
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
On account of mount Zion, which is desolate; Foxes roam over it.
19 You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
But thou, O Jehovah, sittest as king forever; Thy throne endureth from generation to generation.
20 Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
Wherefore dost thou wholly forget us, And abandon us, for so long a time?
21 Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
Turn us again to thee, O Jehovah, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!
22 unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
For shouldst thou utterly reject us? Shouldst thou be so exceedingly wroth against us?
