Lamentations 5
1 Remember, YHWH, what has come on us. Look, and see our disgrace.
Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.
2 Our inheritance is turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
3 We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are like widows.
We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.
4 We have to pay for a drink of water; our wood is sold to us.
We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
5 Our pursuers are on our necks; we are weary, and have no rest.
Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.
6 We have submitted to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, to get enough bread.
We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more; but we have borne their iniquities.
Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
8 Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
10 Our skin is hot like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.
Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.
11 They raped the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes were hung by their hands; elders were shown no respect.
Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.
13 The young men grind at the mill; the boys stagger under loads of wood.
The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.
14 The elders have gone from the gate, the young men from their music.
The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased; our dancing is turned into mourning.
The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.
16 The crown is fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned.
The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes grow dim.
Because of this our hearts are feeble; for these things our eyes are dark;
18 For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate; the foxes walk on it.
Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it.
19 But you, YHWH, abide forever; your throne is from generation to generation.
You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever; the seat of your power is eternal.
20 Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long?
Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long?
21 Restore us to you, YHWH, and we shall be restored; renew our days as in former times,
Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned; make our days new again as in the past.
22 unless you have completely rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.
But you have quite given us up; you are full of wrath against us.
