Lamentations 5

¹Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us. Consider and look kindly upon our disgrace.

²Our inheritance has been turned over to foreigners; our houses to outsiders.

³We have become orphans without a father; our mothers are like widows.

⁴We paid for our drinking water. We acquired our wood for a price.

⁵We were dragged by our necks. Being weary, no rest was given to us.

⁶We have given our hand to Egypt and to the Assyrians, so that we may be satisfied with bread.

⁷Our fathers have sinned, and are not. And we have carried their iniquities.

⁸Servants have become rulers over us. There was no one to redeem us from their hand.

⁹We obtained our bread at the risk of our lives, before the face of the sword, in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin was burned, as if by an oven, before the face of the tempest of the famine.

¹¹They humiliated the women in Zion and the virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²The leaders were suspended by their hand. They were not ashamed before the faces of the elders.

¹³They have sexually abused the adolescents, and the children were corrupted in the wood.

¹⁴The elders have ceased from the gates, the youths from the choir of the psalms.

¹⁵The gladness of our heart has failed, our singing has been turned into mourning.

¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned.

¹⁷Because of this, our heart became gloomy; for this reason, our eyes have been darkened:

¹⁸because of mount Zion, because it was ruined. Foxes have wandered upon it.

¹⁹But you, O Lord, shall remain for eternity, your throne from generation to generation.

²⁰Why would you forget us forever? Why would you forsake us for a long time?

²¹Convert us, O Lord, to you, and we shall be converted. Renew our days, as from the beginning.

²²But you have utterly rejected us; you are vehemently angry against us.

¹Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

²Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

³We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

⁴We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

⁵Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

⁶We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

⁷Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

⁸Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

⁹We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

¹¹They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

¹³They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

¹⁴The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

¹⁵The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

¹⁶The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

¹⁷For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

¹⁸Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

¹⁹Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

²⁰Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

²¹Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

²²But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.