Lamentations 5:1–22

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

5^cRemember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see ^dour disgrace!

^2eOur inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

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.

^5fOur pursuers are at our necks;

we are weary; we are given no rest.

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

to get bread enough.

⁷Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

^hand we bear their iniquities.

⁸ⁱSlaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

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

because of the sword in the wilderness.

^10kOur skin is hot as an oven

with ^lthe burning heat of famine.

¹¹Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

^12mPrinces are hung up by their hands;

ⁿno respect is shown to the elders.

¹³Young men are compelled to ^ogrind at the mill,

and boys stagger ^punder loads of wood.

¹⁴ⁿThe old men have left the city gate,

the young men ^qtheir music.

^15qThe joy of our hearts has ceased;

^rour dancing has been turned to mourning.

^16sThe crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷For this ^tour heart has become sick,

for these things ^uour eyes have grown dim,

¹⁸for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

^vjackals prowl over it.

^19wBut you, O Lord, reign forever;

your throne endures to all generations.

^20xWhy do you forget us forever,

why do you forsake us for so many days?

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

Renew our days as of old—

^22zunless you have utterly rejected us,

and you remain exceedingly angry with us.