Lamentationes 5
1 Recordare Domine quid acciderit nobis: intuere, et respice opprobrium nostrum.
Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
2 Hereditas nostra versa est ad alienos: domus nostrae ad extraneos.
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 Pupilli facti sumus absque patre, matres nostrae quasi viduae.
We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
4 Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus: ligna nostra pretio comparavimus.
We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
5 Cervicibus nostris minabamur, lassis non dabatur requies.
We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
6 Aegypto dedimus manum, et Assyriis ut saturaremur pane.
We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 Patres nostri peccaverunt, et non sunt: et nos iniquitates eorum portavimus.
Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
8 Servi dominati sunt nostri: non fuit qui redimeret de manu eorum.
Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 In animabus nostris afferebamus panem nobis, a facie gladii in deserto.
We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Pellis nostra, quasi clibanus exusta est a facie tempestatum famis.
Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
11 Mulieres in Sion humiliaverunt, et virgines in civitatibus Iuda.
Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Principes manu suspensi sunt: facies senum non erubuerunt.
Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
13 Adolescentibus impudice abusi sunt: et pueri in ligno corruerunt.
Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 Senes defecerunt de portis: iuvenes de choro psallentium.
The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
15 Defecit gaudium cordis nostri: versus est in luctum chorus noster.
Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 Cecidit corona capitis nostri: vae nobis, quia peccavimus.
The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Propterea moestum factum est cor nostrum, ideo contenebrati sunt oculi nostri.
Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
18 Propter montem Sion quia disperiit, vulpes ambulaverunt in eo.
because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
19 Tu autem Domine in aeternum permanebis, solium tuum in generatione et generationem.
You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Quare in perpetuum oblivisceris nostri? derelinques nos in longitudine dierum?
Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
21 Converte nos Domine ad te, et convertemur: innova dies nostros, sicut a principio.
Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
22 Sed proiiciens repulisti nos, iratus es contra nos vehementer.
unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
