5 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
    look, and see our disgrace.
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
    our homes to foreigners.
³ We have become fatherless,
    our mothers are 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 ancestors sinned and are no more,
    and we bear their punishment.
⁸ Slaves rule over us,
    and there is no one 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 violated 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, 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, 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.