Lamentationes 5
1 Recordare, Domine, quid acciderit nobis; intuere et respice opprobrium nostrum.
Remember, Yahweh, what has happened to us; look and see our disgrace.
2 Hæreditas nostra versa est ad alienos, domus nostræ ad extraneos.
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers; our houses to foreigners.
3 Pupilli facti sumus absque patre, matres nostræ quasi viduæ.
We have become orphans, the fatherless, and our mothers are like widows.
4 Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus; ligna nostra pretio comparavimus.
We must pay silver for the water we drink, and we must pay silver to get our own wood.
5 Cervicibus nostris minabamur, lassis non dabatur requies.
Those who are coming after us are close behind us; we are weary and we can find no rest.
6 Ægypto dedimus manum et Assyriis, ut saturaremur pane.
We have given ourselves to Egypt and to Assyria to get enough food.
7 Patres nostri peccaverunt, et non sunt: et nos iniquitates eorum portavimus.
Our fathers sinned, and they are no more, and we bear their iniquities.
8 Servi dominati sunt nostri: non fuit qui redimeret de manu eorum.
Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
9 In animabus nostris afferebamus panem nobis, a facie gladii in deserto.
We get our bread only by risking our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Pellis nostra quasi clibanus exusta est, a facie tempestatum famis.
Our skin has grown as hot as an oven because of the burning heat of hunger.
11 Mulieres in Sion humiliaverunt, et virgines in civitatibus Juda.
Women are raped in Zion, and virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Principes manu suspensi sunt; facies senum non erubuerunt.
Princes are hung up by their own hands, and no honor is shown to the elders.
13 Adolescentibus impudice abusi sunt, et pueri in ligno corruerunt.
Young men are forced to grind grain with a millstone, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.
14 Senes defecerunt de portis, juvenes de choro psallentium.
The elders have left the city gate, and the young men have left their music.
15 Defecit gaudium cordis nostri; versus est in luctum chorus noster.
The joy of our heart has ceased and our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 Cecidit corona capitis nostri: væ nobis, quia peccavimus!
The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Propterea mœstum factum est cor nostrum; ideo contenebrati sunt oculi nostri,
For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes grow dim
18 propter montem Sion quia disperiit; vulpes ambulaverunt in eo.
for Mount Zion lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.
19 Tu autem, Domine, in æternum permanebis, solium tuum in generationem et generationem.
But you, Yahweh, reign forever, and you will sit upon your throne from generation to generation.
20 Quare in perpetuum oblivisceris nostri, derelinques nos in longitudine dierum?
Why do you forget us forever? Why do you forsake us for so many days?
21 Converte nos, Domine, ad te, et convertemur; innova dies nostros, sicut a principio.
Restore us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be restored. Renew our days as they were long ago—
22 Sed projiciens repulisti nos: iratus es contra nos vehementer.
unless you have utterly rejected us and you are angry with us beyond measure.
