- 1
Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.
- 2
Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, our homes to foreigners.
- 3
We have become orphans and fatherless, our mothers like widows.
- 4
We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.
- 5
Those who pursue us are at our heels; 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, and we bear their punishment.
- 8
Slaves rule over us, and there is none to free us from their hands.
- 9
We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert.
- 10
Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.
- 11
Women have been ravished in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah.
- 12
Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect.
- 13
Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
- 14
The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
- 15
Joy is gone from 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 things our eyes grow dim
- 18
for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.
- 19
You, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
- 20
Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
- 21
Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old
- 22
unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.