Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what is come on us: consider, and behold our reproach.
Khumbula, Nkosi, ukuthi kwenzakaleni kithi; khangela, ubone ihlazo lethu.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Ilifa lethu seliphendulelwe kwabezizwe, izindlu zethu kwabemzini.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
Siyizintandane, kungelababa; omama banjengabafelokazi.
4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold to us.
Amanzi ethu siwanathile ngemali; inkuni zethu ziza ngentengo.
5 Our necks are under persecution: we labor, and have no rest.
Sizingelwa ezintanyeni zethu, sidiniwe, kasilakuphumula.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Sinike isandla sethu kwabeGibhithe, labeAsiriya, ukuze sisuthiswe ngesinkwa.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
Obaba bona, kabasekho, njalo thina sithwele iziphambeko zabo.
8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that does deliver us out of their hand.
Izigqili ziyasibusa, kakho ongasihluthuna esandleni sazo.
9 We got our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
Sizuza isinkwa sethu ngengozi yempilo yethu, ngenxa yenkemba yenkangala.
10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
Ijwabu lethu limnyama njengeziko ngenxa yokutshisa okukhulu kwendlala.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
Badlova abesifazana eZiyoni, izintombi ezimsulwa emizini yakoJuda.
12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honored.
Iziphathamandla zaphanyekwa ngesandla sazo; ubuso babadala kabuhlonitshwanga.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
Amajaha athwala amatshe okuchola, labafana bakhubeka ngaphansi kwenkuni.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.
Abadala baphelile esangweni, amajaha ekuhlabeleleni.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
Intokozo yenhliziyo yethu iphelile, ukugida kwethu kwaphenduka ukulila.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, that we have sinned!
Umqhele wekhanda lethu uwile; hawu, maye kithi, ngoba sonile!
17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
Ngenxa yalokhu inhliziyo yethu iphela amandla; ngenxa yalezizinto amehlo ethu afiphele.
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk on it.
Ngenxa yentaba yeZiyoni elunxiwa, amakhanka ahamba phezu kwayo.
19 You, O LORD, remain for ever; your throne from generation to generation.
Wena, Nkosi, uhlezi kuze kube nininini, isihlalo sakho sobukhosi sisuka esizukulwaneni sisiya esizukulwaneni.
20 Why do you forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
Usikhohlweleni njalonjalo, usidela okobude bezinsuku?
21 Turn you us to you, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
Siphendulele kuwe, Nkosi, sizaphenduka; yenza insuku zethu zibe zintsha njengasendulo.
22 But you have utterly rejected us; you are very wroth against us.
Kodwa ususilahlile isibili; usithukuthelele kakhulukazi.
