Lamentations 5
Chapter 5 of 5
1 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us, pay attention, and see our disgrace:
2 Our heritage is turned over to strangers, our homes, to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, without fathers; our mothers are like widows.
4 We pay money to drink our own water, our own wood comes at a price.
5 With a yoke on our necks, we are driven; we are worn out, but allowed no rest.
6 We extended a hand to Egypt and Assyria, to satisfy our need of bread.
7 Our ancestors, who sinned, are no more; but now we bear their guilt.
8 Servants rule over us, with no one to tear us from their hands.
9 We risk our lives just to get bread, exposed to the desert heat;
10 Our skin heats up like an oven, from the searing blasts of famine.
11 Women are raped in Zion, young women in the cities of Judah;
12 Princes have been hanged by them, elders shown no respect.
13 Young men carry millstones, boys stagger under loads of wood;
14 The elders have abandoned the gate, the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased, ancing has turned into mourning;
16 The crown has fallen from our head: woe to us that we sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts grow sick, at this our eyes grow dim:
18 Because of Mount Zion, lying desolate, and the jackals roaming there!
19 But you, Lord, are enthroned forever; your throne stands from age to age.
20 Why have you utterly forgotten us, forsaken us for so long?
21 Bring us back to you, Lord, that we may return: renew our days as of old.
22 For now you have indeed rejected us and utterly turned your wrath against us.