Prayer for Restoration

¹Lord , remember what has happened to us.

Look, and see our disgrace!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our houses to foreigners.

³We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are widows.

⁴We must pay for the water we drink;

our wood comes at a price.

⁵We are closely pursued;

we are tired, and no one offers us rest.

⁶We made a treaty with Egypt[#5:6 Lit We gave the hand to]

and with Assyria, to get enough food.

⁷Our ancestors sinned; they no longer exist,

but we bear their punishment.

⁸Slaves rule over us;[#5:8 Pr 30:21–23; Ec 10:7]

no one rescues us from them.

⁹We secure our food at the risk of our lives

because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an oven[#5:10 Or black ; Hb obscure; #5:10 Lm 4:8]

from the ravages of hunger.

¹¹Women have been raped in Zion,

virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes have been hung up by their hands;

elders are shown no respect.

¹³Young men labour at millstones;[#5:13 Ex 11:5; Jdg 16:21; Is 47:2]

boys stumble under loads of wood.

¹⁴The elders have left the city gate,

the young men, their music.

¹⁵Joy has left our hearts;[#5:15 Am 8:10]

our dancing has turned to mourning.

¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head.[#5:16 Jb 19:9; Is 28:3; Jr 13:18]

Woe to us, for we have sinned.

¹⁷Because of this, our heart is sick;

because of these, our eyes grow dim:

¹⁸because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate

and has jackals prowling in it.

¹⁹You, Lord , are enthroned for ever;

your throne endures from generation to generation.

²⁰Why do you continually forget us,[#5:20 Ps 13:1]

abandon us for our entire lives?

²¹Lord , bring us back to yourself, so that we may return;[#5:21 Jr 15:19; 31:18]

renew our days as in former times,

²²unless you have completely rejected us

and are intensely angry with us.