Lamentations 5 (New International Version)

Lamentations 5

 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.