Lamentations 5

A Prayer for Mercy

¹Remember, Lord , what has come upon us;

Look, and see our disgrace!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

Our houses to foreigners.

³We have become orphans, without a father;

Our mothers are like widows.

⁴We have to pay for our drinking water,[#5:4 Lit We drink our water with silver]

Our wood comes to us at a price.

⁵Our pursuers are at our necks;[#5:5 Lit We have been pursued upon]

We are worn out, we are given no rest.

⁶We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.[#5:6 Lit given Egypt a hand; #5:6 Lit to be satisfied with]

⁷Our fathers sinned, and are gone;

It is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.

⁸Slaves rule over us;

There is no one to rescue us from their hand.

⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives[#5:9 Lit with our soul]

Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin has become as hot as an oven,

Because of the ravages of hunger.

¹¹They violated the women in Zion,

The virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Leaders were hung by their hands;

Elders were not respected.

¹³Young men worked at the grinding mill,[#5:13 Lit carried the]

And youths staggered under loads of wood.

¹⁴Elders are absent from the gate,

Young men from their music.

¹⁵The joy of our hearts has ended;

Our dancing has been turned into mourning.

¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head;

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷Because of this our heart is faint,

Because of these things our eyes are dim;

¹⁸Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate,

Jackals prowl in it.

¹⁹¶You, Lord , rule forever;[#5:19 Lit sit]

Your throne is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why will You forget us forever?

Why do You abandon us for so long?

²¹Restore us to You, Lord , so that we may be restored;

Renew our days as of old,

²²Unless You have utterly rejected us

And are exceedingly angry with us.