A Prayer for Mercy and Restoration

¹Yahweh , remember all that we’ve endured;[#5:1 Unlike chs. 1–4, ch. 5 is not an alphabetical acrostic.]

look and see our disgrace.

²Our inheritance has passed to strangers,[#5:2 That is, their ancestral land and the temple. See Ps. 79:1.]

our homes to foreigners.

³We have no fathers; we are orphans,

and our mothers are widows.

⁴We have to pay for drinking water,

and our firewood comes at a steep price.

⁵Our pursuers are breathing down our necks;

we are exhausted and allowed no rest.

⁶We made a pact with Egypt and Assyria

just to have enough food to eat.

⁷Our ancestors sinned, and they are no more;

and now we suffer their punishment.

⁸Slaves rule over us;[#5:8 See Prov. 30:21–22.]

there is no one to rescue us from them.

⁹We risk our lives to earn our bread

because of armed gangs in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is scorched

from the heat of famine.

¹¹Our enemies violated Zion’s women

and young girls in the towns of Judah.

¹²Our leaders have been taken and hanged;

our elders have received no respect.

¹³Young men are forced into menial labor,[#5:13 Or “Young men grind at the mill.” Grinding grain was often the work of animals, prisoners, or servants and slaves.]

boys stagger under loads of wood.

¹⁴The elders no longer give their advice;[#5:14 Or “have deserted the city gate.” It was at the city gates where the elders would render their decisions and give counsel to the people of the city. See Ruth 4:1; Est. 2:21.]

the young no longer make music.

¹⁵Joy has vanished from our hearts;

our dancing has turned to mourning.

¹⁶Our joyful celebrations are over.[#5:16 Or “The crown [festive garland] has fallen from our head.” This is possibly a metaphor for saying something like, “The joyous festivities are gone.” However, it may express realization of the end of the Davidic kingship and the collapse of the monarchy.]

We have sinned, and we are doomed!

¹⁷For this is why our hearts are sick

and our eyes are veiled with tears,

¹⁸because Mount Zion lies desolate

with jackals roaming over it.

¹⁹Yet you, Yahweh , reign forever!

Your throne endures from age to age.

²⁰Have you forgotten us forever?

Why have you abandoned us for so long?

²¹Draw us back to yourself, Yahweh ; let us come back to you !

Restore us as we were before.

²²Have you utterly rejected us?

Is there no limit to your anger?