Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us; consider, and see our reproach.
Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
4 Our water have we to drink for money, our wood cometh unto us for a price.
We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
5 Our pursuers are on our necks: we are weary, we have no rest.
We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
6 We have given the hand to Egypt, [and] to Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.
We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, [and] they are not; and we bear their iniquities.
Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
8 Bondmen rule over us: there is no deliverer out of their hand.
Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin gloweth like an oven, because of the burning heat of the famine.
Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
11 They have ravished the women in Zion, the maids in the cities of Judah.
Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hand; the faces of elders were not honoured.
Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
13 The young men have borne the mill, and the youths have stumbled under the wood.
Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.
The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
15 The joy of our heart hath ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, for we have sinned!
The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes have grown dim,
Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: foxes walk over it.
because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
19 Thou, Jehovah, dwellest for ever; thy throne is from generation to generation.
You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, dost thou forsake us so long time?
Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
21 Turn thou us unto thee, Jehovah, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
22 Or is it that thou hast utterly rejected us? Wouldest thou be exceeding wroth against us?
unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
