Lamentations 5

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

1Remember, O Lord , what has befallen us;[#Ps. 89:50]

look, and see our disgrace!

2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,[#Ps. 79:1]

our homes to foreigners.

3We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

4We must pay for the water we drink;

the wood we get must be bought.

5Our pursuers are at our necks;[#Josh. 10:24]

we are weary; we are given no rest.

6We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria,[#Hos. 12:1; #Hos. 12:1]

to get bread enough.

7Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

and we bear their iniquities.

8Slaves rule over us;[#Prov. 30:21, 22]

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

9We get our bread at the peril of our lives,[#Jer. 6:25]

because of the sword in the wilderness.

10Our skin is hot as an oven[#4:8]

with the burning heat of famine.

11Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

12Princes are hung up by their hands;[#2 Kgs. 25:19-21]

no respect is shown to the elders.

13Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,[#Judg. 16:21]

and boys stagger under loads of wood.

14The old men have left the city gate,[#12]

the young men their music.

15The joy of our hearts has ceased;[#14]

our dancing has been turned to mourning.

16The crown has fallen from our head;[#Ps. 89:39; Jer. 13:18; 1:1]

woe to us, for we have sinned!

17For this our heart has become sick,[#Isa. 1:5]

for these things our eyes have grown dim,

18for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

jackals prowl over it.

19But you, O Lord , reign forever;[#Ps. 9:7; 102:12; 145:13]

your throne endures to all generations.

20Why do you forget us forever,[#Ps. 13:1]

why do you forsake us for so many days?

21Restore us to yourself, O Lord , that we may be restored![#Jer. 31:18; Ps. 80:3, 7, 19]

Renew our days as of old—

22unless you have utterly rejected us,[#Jer. 14:19]

and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Published by: Crossway / Good News Publishers