Lamentations 5

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.

¹Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

³We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.

⁴We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.

⁵We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.

⁶We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

⁷Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.

⁸Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.

⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

¹¹Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.

¹³Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.

¹⁴The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.

¹⁵Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

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

¹⁷Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—

¹⁸because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.

¹⁹You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.

²⁰Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?

²¹Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,

²²unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.