8 Slaves have now become our masters;

there is no one left to rescue us.

9 We hunt for food at the risk of our lives,

for violence rules the countryside.

10 The famine has blackened our skin

as though baked in an oven.

11 Our enemies rape the women in Jerusalem*

and the young girls in all the towns of Judah.

12 Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs,

and our elders are treated with contempt.

13 Young men are led away to work at millstones,

and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.

14 The elders no longer sit in the city gates;

the young men no longer dance and sing.

15 Joy has left our hearts;

our dancing has turned to mourning.

16 The garlands have* fallen from our heads.

Weep for us because we have sinned.

17 Our hearts are sick and weary,

and our eyes grow dim with tears.

18 For Jerusalem* is empty and desolate,

a place haunted by jackals.