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