Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
Remember, O Yahweh, what hath befallen us, Look around, and see our reproach:
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
Our inheritance, turned over to foreigners, our houses, to aliens.
3 We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
Orphans, have we become, and fatherless, our mothers, are widows indeed.
4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
Our water—for silver, have we drunk, our wood—for a price, cometh in.
5 We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
Upon our necks, are our pursuers, We labour, and there is allowed us no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
To Egypt, have we stretched out our hand, to Assyria, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
Our fathers, sinned, and are not, and, we, their iniquities, have borne.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
Slaves, have ruled over us, There is none to set free from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
At the risk of our life, do we bring in our bread, because of the sword of the desert.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
Our skin, as with a furnace, is scorched, because of the hot winds of famine.
11 Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
Women—in Zion, were ravished, virgins, in the cities of Judah!
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
Princes, by their hand, have been hanged, The faces of elders, not honoured.
13 Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
Young men, a millstone, have lifted, and, youths, under wood, have staggered.
14 The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
Elders, from the gates, have ceased. Young men, from their music.
15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
Ceased hath the joy of our hearts, Changed to mourning, our dance.
16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
Fallen is the crown of our head. Surely woe to us, for we have sinned.
17 Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
For this cause, faint is our heart, For these things, dimmed are our eyes:
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
Because of Mount Zion, which is desolate, jackals, have gone prowling therein.
19 You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
Thou, O Yahweh, unto times age-abiding, dost remain, Thy throne, from generation to generation:
20 Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
Wherefore shouldst thou perpetually forget us? forsake us, to length of days?
21 Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
Bring us back, O Yahweh, unto thyself, and we will come back! Renew our days, as of old;
22 unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
For though thou hast not, utterly rejected, us, thou art wroth with us—exceedingly!
