Lamentations 5

Chapter 5

A Prayer for Mercy

¹Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

Look, and see our ^areproach!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to ^astrangers,

Our ^bhouses to aliens.

³We have become orphans ^awithout a father,

Our mothers are like widows.

⁴¹We have to pay for our drinking ^awater,

Our wood comes to us at a price.

⁵¹Our pursuers are at our necks;

We are worn out, there is ^ano rest for us.

⁶We have ¹submitted to ^aEgypt and Assyria ²to get enough bread.

⁷Our ^afathers sinned, and are no more;

It is we who have borne their iniquities.

^8aSlaves rule over us;

There is ^bno one to deliver us from their hand.

⁹We get our bread ¹at the ^arisk of our lives

²Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin has become as ^ahot as an oven,

Because of ¹the burning heat of famine.

¹¹They ravished the ^awomen in Zion,

The virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes were hung by their hands;

^1aElders were not respected.

¹³Young men ^1aworked at the grinding mill,

And youths ^bstumbled under loads of wood.

¹⁴Elders ¹are gone from the gate,

Young men from their ^amusic.

¹⁵The joy of our hearts has ^aceased;

Our dancing has been turned into mourning.

¹⁶The ^acrown has fallen from our head;

^bWoe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷Because of this our ^aheart is faint,

Because of these things our ^beyes are dim;

¹⁸Because of ^aMount Zion which lies desolate,

^bFoxes prowl in it.

^19aYou, O Lord, ¹rule forever;

Your ^bthrone is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why do You ^aforget us forever?

Why do You forsake us ¹so long?

^21aRestore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored;

Renew ^bour days as of old,

²²Unless ^aYou have utterly rejected us

And are exceedingly ^bangry with us.