Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us: behold, and look on our reproach.
Remember, O YHWH, what has befallen us, Look attentively, and see our reproach.
2 Our inheritance has been turned away to aliens, our houses to strangers:
Our inheritance has been turned to strangers, Our houses to foreigners.
3 we are become orphans, we have no father, our mothers are as widows.
Orphans we have been—without a father, our mothers [are] as widows.
4 We have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold to us [for a burden] on our neck:
We have drunk our water for money, Our wood comes for a price.
5 we have been persecuted, we have laboured, we have had no rest.
For our neck we have been pursued, We have labored—there has been no rest for us.
6 Egypt gave the hand [to us], Assur to their own satisfaction.
[To] Egypt we have given a hand, [To] Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned, [and] are not: we have borne their iniquities.
Our fathers have sinned—they are not, We have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none to ransom [us] out of their hand.
Servants have ruled over us, There is no deliverer from their hand.
9 We shall bring in our bread with [danger of] our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
With our lives we bring in our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because of the storms of famine.
Our skin as an oven has been burning, Because of the raging of the famine.
11 They humbled the women in Sion, the virgins in the cities of Juda.
Wives in Zion they have humbled, Virgins—in cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hands: the elders were not honoured.
Princes have been hanged by their hand, Elderly faces have not been honored.
13 The chosen men lifted up [the voice in] weeping, and the youths fainted under the wood.
They have taken young men to grind, And youths have stumbled with wood.
14 And the elders ceased from the gate, the chosen men ceased from their music.
Elderly have ceased from the gate, Young men from their song.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
The joy of our heart has ceased, Our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen [from] our head: yea, woe to us! for we have sinned.
The crown has fallen [from] our head, Woe [is] now to us, for we have sinned.
17 For this has grief come; our heart is sorrowful: for this our eyes are darkened.
Our heart has been sick for this, Our eyes have been dim for these.
18 Over the mountain of Sion, because it is made desolate, foxes have walked therein.
For the Mount of Zion—that is desolate, Foxes have gone up on it.
19 But thou, O Lord, shalt dwell for ever; thy throne [shall endure] to generation and generation.
You, O YHWH, remain for all time, Your throne to generation and generation.
20 Wherefore wilt thou utterly forget us, and abandon us a long time?
Why do You forget us forever? You forsake us for [the] length of [our] days!
21 Turn us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be turned; and renew our days as before.
Turn us back, O YHWH, to You, And we turn back, renew our days as of old.
22 For thou hast indeed rejected us; thou hast been very wroth against us.
For have You utterly rejected us? You have been angry against us—exceedingly?
