Lamentations 5

¹Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us! Look down and behold our reproach!

²Our inheritance is fallen to strangers, Our houses to aliens.

³We are orphans; we are without a father; Our mothers are as widows.

⁴Our water we drink for money; Our wood is sold to us.

⁵With the yoke upon our necks, we are driven; We are wearied, and have no rest.

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

⁷Our fathers sinned; they are no more, And we bear their iniquities.

⁸Servants rule over us; There is none that delivereth out of their hand.

⁹With the peril of our lives we get our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is parched like an oven Because of the burnings of hunger.

¹¹Matrons in Zion have they ravished, And maidens in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes were hanged up by their hand; The faces of the elders were not honored.

¹³Young men carried millstones, And boys fell under burdens of wood.

¹⁴The elders sit no more at the gate; The young men have ceased from their music.

¹⁵The joy of our heart is at an end; Our dancing is turned into mourning.

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

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

¹⁸On account of mount Zion, which is desolate; Foxes roam over it.

¹⁹But thou, O Jehovah, sittest as king forever; Thy throne endureth from generation to generation.

²⁰Wherefore dost thou wholly forget us, And abandon us, for so long a time?

²¹Turn us again to thee, O Jehovah, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!

²²For shouldst thou utterly reject us? Shouldst thou be so exceedingly wroth 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.