Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
Oh Thixo, khumbula okusehleleyo khangela ubone ukuyangeka kwethu.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Ilifa lethu seliphiwe abezizweni, imizi yethu yathathwa ngabemzini.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows.
Sesizintandane ezingelaboyise, omama sebenjengabafelokazi.
4 We have drank our water for money; our wood is sold to us.
Amanzi okunatha siyawathenga; inkuni zethu zikhutshelwa imali.
5 Our necks [are] under persecution: we labor, [and] have no rest.
Labo abasixotshayo basihlezi ezithende; sikhathele asilakuphumula.
6 We have given the hand [to] the Egyptians, [and to] the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Sazinikela kwabeGibhithe labe-Asiriya ukuze sizuze isinkwa.
7 Our fathers have sinned, [and are] not; and we have borne their iniquities.
Okhokho benza isono kodwa kabasekho, thina yithi esesijeziswa.
8 Servants have ruled over us: [there is] none that doth deliver [us] out of their hand.
Sibuswa yizigqili, kakho osikhululayo ezandleni zazo.
9 We procured our bread with [the peril of] our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
Isinkwa sisithola ngendlela eyingozi ngenxa yenkemba ekhona enkangala.
10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
Isikhumba sethu sitshisa njengeziko, silomkhuhlane wendlala.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, [and] the maids in the cities of Judah.
Abesifazane bayahlukuluzwa eZiyoni kanye lezintombi ezigcweleyo emadolobheni akoJuda.
12 Princes were hanged by their hand: the faces of elders were not honored.
Amakhosi alengisiwe ngezandla zawo; abadala abasahlonitshwa.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
Izinsizwa ziyahoqiswa ematsheni okuchola; abafana babhensiswa yimithwalo yenkuni.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.
Abadala sebesukile esangweni lomuzi; izinsizwa sezithule ukuhlabelela.
15 The joy of our heart hath ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
Ukuthokoza akusekho ezinhliziyweni zethu; ukugida kwethu sekuphenduke ukukhala.
16 The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe to us, that we have sinned!
Umqhele usuwile ekhanda lethu. Maye thina, ngoba sonile!
17 For this our heart is faint; for these [things] our eyes are dim.
Ngenxa yalokhu inhliziyo zethu zibuthakathaka; ngenxa yalezizinto amehlo ethu ayafiphala,
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
ngoba intaba iZiyoni silugwadule, sekucathama amakhanka kuyo.
19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
Wena, Oh Thixo, busa nini lanini; ubukhosi bakho buhlezi kuzozonke izizukulwane.
20 Why dost thou forget us for ever, [and] forsake us so long time?
Kungani uhlezi usikhohlwa? Usifulathelelani isikhathi eside kangaka na?
21 Turn thou us to thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
Sibuyisele kuwe, Oh Thixo, ukuze siphenduke; buyisa kabutsha insuku zethu njengezakudala,
22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
ngaphandle kokuba nxa ususilahle kokuphela wasizondela ngokungalinganisekiyo.
