Lamentations 5

A Request for Mercy

¹Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us;

take note, and see our disgrace!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

³We have become orphans, fatherless,

⁴We pay for water with money,[#Literally “we drink our water by money”]

⁵We are driven on our necks;

⁶We have made a deal with Egypt and Assyria

⁷Our fathers have sinned, they are no more;

⁸Slaves rule over us;

⁹We risk our life for food[#Literally “We take our food at our life”]

¹⁰Our skin is hot like an oven

¹¹They raped women in Zion,

¹²They hang princes by their hand;

¹³Young men must carry a hand-mill

¹⁴Elders are no longer at the gate,

¹⁵The joy of our hearts has stopped;

¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head;

¹⁷Because of this, our heart has become faint,

¹⁸Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate,

¹⁹You, O Yahweh, will sit forever

²⁰Why have you forgotten us forever?

²¹Restore us to you, O Yahweh, that we will be restored;

²²Unless you have utterly rejected us,