Lamentations 5

New King James Version

Prayer for Restoration

5 Remember, ^(A)O Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold ^(B)our reproach!
²^(C)Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
³We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like ^(D)widows.

⁴We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
⁵^(E)They pursue at our ^[a]heels;
We labor and have no rest.
⁶^(F)We have given our hand ^(G)to the Egyptians
And the ^(H)Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

⁷^(I)Our fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
⁸Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
¹¹They ^(J)ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
¹²Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
¹³Young men ^(K)ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.
¹⁴The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their ^(L)music.

¹⁵The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into ^(M)mourning.
¹⁶^(N)The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷Because of this our heart is faint;
^(O)Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
¹⁸Because of Mount Zion which is ^(P)desolate,
With foxes walking about on it.

¹⁹You, O Lord, ^(Q)remain forever;
^(R)Your throne from generation to generation.
²⁰^(S)Why do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?
²¹^(T)Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be ^[b]restored;
Renew our days as of old,
²²Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!