Lamentations 5

1 Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us; consider, and see our reproach.

Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.

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

Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.

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

We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.

4 Our water have we to drink for money, our wood cometh unto us for a price.

We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.

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

Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.

6 We have given the hand to Egypt, [and] to Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.

We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.

7 Our fathers have sinned, [and] they are not; and we bear their iniquities.

Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.

8 Bondmen rule over us: there is no deliverer out of their hand.

Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.

9 We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.

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

Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.

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

They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.

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

Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.

13 The young men have borne the mill, and the youths have stumbled under the wood.

The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.

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

The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.

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

The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.

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

The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.

17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes have grown dim,

Because of this our hearts are feeble; for these things our eyes are dark;

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

Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it.

19 Thou, Jehovah, dwellest for ever; thy throne is from generation to generation.

You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever; the seat of your power is eternal.

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

Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long?

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

Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned; make our days new again as in the past.

22 Or is it that thou hast utterly rejected us? Wouldest thou be exceeding wroth against us?

But you have quite given us up; you are full of wrath against us.