Lamentations 5

¹Remember, Lord, what has come on us. Look, and see our disgrace.

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

³We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are like widows.

⁴We have to pay for a drink of water; our wood is sold to us.

⁵Our pursuers are on our necks; we are weary, and have no rest.

⁶We have submitted to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, to get enough bread.

⁷Our fathers sinned, and are no more; we have borne their iniquities.

⁸Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.

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

¹⁰Our skin is hot like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

¹¹They raped the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes were hanged by their hands; elders were shown no respect.

¹³The young men grind at the mill; the boys stagger under loads of wood.

¹⁴The elders have gone from the gate, the young men from their music.

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

¹⁶The crown is fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

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

¹⁸For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate; the foxes walk on it.

¹⁹You, Lord, abide forever; your throne is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long?

²¹Restore us to you, Lord, and we shall be restored; renew our days as in former times,

²²unless you have completely rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

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.