Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

5 cRemember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see dour disgrace!

2  eOur inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our homes to foreigners.

3  We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

4  We must pay for the water we drink;

the wood we get must be bought.

5  fOur pursuers are at our necks;

we are weary; we are given no rest.

6  We have given the hand to gEgypt, and to gAssyria,

to get bread enough.

7  Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

hand we bear their iniquities.

8  iSlaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

9  jWe get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

10  kOur skin is hot as an oven

with lthe burning heat of famine.

11  Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

12  mPrinces are hung up by their hands;

nno respect is shown to the elders.

13  Young men are compelled to ogrind at the mill,

and boys stagger punder loads of wood.

14  nThe old men have left the city gate,

the young men qtheir music.

15  qThe joy of our hearts has ceased;

rour dancing has been turned to mourning.

16  sThe crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

17  For this tour heart has become sick,

for these things uour eyes have grown dim,

18  for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

vjackals prowl over it.

19  wBut you, O Lord, reign forever;

your throne endures to all generations.

20  xWhy do you forget us forever,

why do you forsake us for so many days?

21  yRestore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!

Renew our days as of old—

22  zunless you have utterly rejected us,

and you remain exceedingly angry with us.