Lamentations 5

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

Yahweh, think about what has happened to us. See that we have been disgraced.

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

Foreigners have seized our property, [and now] they live in our homes.

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

[Our enemies] have killed our fathers; they caused our mothers to become widows.

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

[Now] we are required to pay for water to drink, and we must pay [a lot of money] for firewood.

5 Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest.

[It is as though] those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted, but they do not allow us to rest.

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

In order to get enough food [to remain alive], we went to Egypt and Assyria and offered to work [for the people there].

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

Our ancestors sinned, and now they are dead, but we are being punished for the sins that they committed.

8 Servants have ruled over us: [there is] none that doth deliver [us] out of their hand.

[Officials from Babylon] who were [previously] slaves [now] rule over us, and there is no one who can rescue us from their power.

9 We gat our bread with [the peril of] our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

When we roam around in the desert searching for food, we are in danger of being killed, because people there kill strangers with their swords.

10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

Our skin has become hot like [SIM] an oven, and we have a very high fever because we are extremely hungry.

11 They ravished the women in Zion, [and] the maids in the cities of Judah.

[Our enemies] have raped the women in Jerusalem, [and they have done that to] the young women in [all] the towns of Judea.

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

[Our enemies] have hanged our leaders, and they do not respect our elders.

13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

They force our young men to grind [flour] with millstones, and boys stagger while they [are forced to] carry [heavy] loads of firewood.

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

[Our] elders no longer sit at the city gates [to make important decisions]; the young men no longer play their musical [instruments].

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

We [SYN] are no longer joyful; instead of dancing [joyfully], we now mourn.

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

The wreaths [of flowers] have fallen off our heads. Terrible things have happened to us because of the sins that we committed.

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

We [SYN] are tired and discouraged [IDM], and we cannot see well because our eyes are [full of tears].

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

Jerusalem is [completely] deserted, and jackals/wolves prowl around it.

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

But Yahweh, you rule forever! You continue to rule [MTY] from one generation to the next generation.

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

[So] why [RHQ] have you forgotten us? Why [RHQ] have you abandoned us for a very long time?

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

[Please] enable us to return to you, and enable us to prosper [MTY] as we did previously.

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

Please do that, because we hope that [RHQ] you have not rejected us forever and that [RHQ] you do not continue to be extremely angry with us!