Lamentations 5

1 Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!

2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

3 We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.

4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.

5 We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.

6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.

8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.

9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

10 Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

11 Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.

13 Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.

14 The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.

15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.

16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—

18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.

19 You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.

20 Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?

21 Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,

22 unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.

1 ¶ Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows.

4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

5 Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest.

6 We have given the hand [to] the Egyptians, [and to] the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7 Our fathers have sinned, [and are] not; and we have borne their iniquities.

8 Servants have ruled over us: [there is] none that doth deliver [us] out of their hand.

9 We gat our bread with [the peril of] our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

11 They ravished the women in Zion, [and] the maids in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

16 The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

17 ¶ For this our heart is faint; for these [things] our eyes are dim.

18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, [and] forsake us so long time?

21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

1 Remember, O Lord, how we are: look and see our reproach.

2 Our inheritance is given to strangers, and our houses to foreigners.

3 We are orphans, and have no father: our mothers are as widows.

4 Our own water we must drink for money; our wood we must have brought for a price.

5 we are driven about by the neck, and though we are weary, yet they will not let us rest.

6 We have yielded ourselves unto Egypt and Assyria, that we may have bread to eat.

7 Our fathers have sinned, and are no more: and we must recompense their iniquity.

8 Servants rule over us, and there is none to deliver us out of their hand.

9 We must take our bread with the sword of our life before the sword in the wilderness.

10 our skin is burned as in a furnace from the abominable hunger.

11 They have weakened the women of Zion, and the virgins of the cities of Judah.

12 The princes are gone from them, and the persons of the ancients are not honoured.

13 The young men have borne millstones, and the lads have stumbled at the carrying of wood.

14 The old men sit no more under the gate, neither do the young men play with strings.

15 The joy of our heart is ended; our song is turned into lamentation.

16 The crown of our head is fallen off. O woe, that we have sinned so!

17 Therefore also our heart is grieved, and our eyes are darkened.

18 For the mountain of Zion's sake, because it lieth desolate, and the foxes run upon it.

19 But thou, O LORD, which abidest for ever, and thy throne for ever,

20 Why wilt thou so utterly forget ours, and so utterly forsake the length of us?

21 Bring us again, O LORD, that we may return unto thee: make our days as of old.

22 For thou hast rejected us, and art too wroth with us.