A Prayer for Restoration

5 Remember, aO Lord, what has come upon us;

Look, and behold bour reproach!

2 cOur inheritance has been turned over to aliens,

And our houses to foreigners.

3 We have become orphans and waifs,

Our mothers are like dwidows.

4 We pay for the water we drink,

And our wood comes at a price.

5 eThey pursue at our 1heels;

We labor and have no rest.

6 fWe have given our hand gto the Egyptians

And the hAssyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7 iOur fathers sinned and are no more,

But we bear their iniquities.

8 Servants rule over us;

There is none to deliver us from their hand.

9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives,

Because of the sword in the wilderness.

10 Our skin is hot as an oven,

Because of the fever of famine.

11 They jravished the women in Zion,

The maidens in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes were hung up by their hands,

And elders were not respected.

13 Young men kground at the millstones;

Boys staggered under loads of wood.

14 The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,

And the young men from their lmusic.

15 The joy of our heart has ceased;

Our dance has turned into mmourning.

16 nThe crown has fallen from our head.

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 Because of this our heart is faint;

oBecause of these things our eyes grow dim;

18 Because of Mount Zion which is pdesolate,

With foxes walking about on it.

19 You, O Lord, qremain forever;

rYour throne from generation to generation.

20 sWhy do You forget us forever,

And forsake us for so long a time?

21 tTurn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be 2restored;

Renew our days as of old,

22 Unless You have utterly rejected us,

And are very angry with us!