Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O YHWH, what has befallen us, Look attentively, and see our reproach.
Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us! Look down and behold our reproach!
2 Our inheritance has been turned to strangers, Our houses to foreigners.
Our inheritance is fallen to strangers, Our houses to aliens.
3 Orphans we have been—without a father, our mothers [are] as widows.
We are orphans; we are without a father; Our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunk our water for money, Our wood comes for a price.
Our water we drink for money; Our wood is sold to us.
5 For our neck we have been pursued, We have labored—there has been no rest for us.
With the yoke upon our necks, we are driven; We are wearied, and have no rest.
6 [To] Egypt we have given a hand, [To] Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.
We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned—they are not, We have borne their iniquities.
Our fathers sinned; they are no more, And we bear their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us, There is no deliverer from their hand.
Servants rule over us; There is none that delivereth out of their hand.
9 With our lives we bring in our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
With the peril of our lives we get our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin as an oven has been burning, Because of the raging of the famine.
Our skin is parched like an oven Because of the burnings of hunger.
11 Wives in Zion they have humbled, Virgins—in cities of Judah.
Matrons in Zion have they ravished, And maidens in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes have been hanged by their hand, Elderly faces have not been honored.
Princes were hanged up by their hand; The faces of the elders were not honored.
13 They have taken young men to grind, And youths have stumbled with wood.
Young men carried millstones, And boys fell under burdens of wood.
14 Elderly have ceased from the gate, Young men from their song.
The elders sit no more at the gate; The young men have ceased from their music.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased, Our dancing has been turned to mourning.
The joy of our heart is at an end; Our dancing is turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen [from] our head, Woe [is] now to us, for we have sinned.
The crown is fallen from our head; Woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17 Our heart has been sick for this, Our eyes have been dim for these.
For this is our heart faint, For these things our eyes are dim;
18 For the Mount of Zion—that is desolate, Foxes have gone up on it.
On account of mount Zion, which is desolate; Foxes roam over it.
19 You, O YHWH, remain for all time, Your throne to generation and generation.
But thou, O Jehovah, sittest as king forever; Thy throne endureth from generation to generation.
20 Why do You forget us forever? You forsake us for [the] length of [our] days!
Wherefore dost thou wholly forget us, And abandon us, for so long a time?
21 Turn us back, O YHWH, to You, And we turn back, renew our days as of old.
Turn us again to thee, O Jehovah, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!
22 For have You utterly rejected us? You have been angry against us—exceedingly?
For shouldst thou utterly reject us? Shouldst thou be so exceedingly wroth against us?
