Lamentations 5

1 Remember, O what is LORD, come upon us: behold, and see our reproach.

Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us: behold, and look on our reproach.

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

Our inheritance has been turned away to aliens, our houses to strangers:

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

we are become orphans, we have no father, our mothers are as widows.

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

We have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold to us [for a burden] on our neck:

5 Our pursuers are upon our necks: we are weary, and have no rest.

we have been persecuted, we have laboured, we have had no rest.

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

Egypt gave the hand [to us], Assur to their own satisfaction.

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

Our fathers sinned, [and] are not: we have borne their iniquities.

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

Servants have ruled over us: there is none to ransom [us] out of their hand.

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

We shall bring in our bread with [danger of] our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

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

Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because of the storms of famine.

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

They humbled the women in Sion, the virgins in the cities of Juda.

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

Princes were hanged up by their hands: the elders were not honoured.

13 The young men bare the mill, and the children stumbled under the wood.

The chosen men lifted up [the voice in] weeping, and the youths fainted under the wood.

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

And the elders ceased from the gate, the chosen men ceased from their music.

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

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

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

The crown has fallen [from] our head: yea, woe to us! for we have sinned.

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

For this has grief come; our heart is sorrowful: for this our eyes are darkened.

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

Over the mountain of Sion, because it is made desolate, foxes have walked therein.

19 Thou, O LORD, abidest for ever; thy throne is from generation to generation.

But thou, O Lord, shalt dwell for ever; thy throne [shall endure] to generation and generation.

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

Wherefore wilt thou utterly forget us, and abandon us a long time?

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

Turn us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be turned; and renew our days as before.

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

For thou hast indeed rejected us; thou hast been very wroth against us.