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A Plea for Mercy

Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
    look, and see our disgrace!(A)
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
    our homes to aliens.(B)
We have become orphans, fatherless;
    our mothers are like widows.
We must pay for the water we drink;
    the wood we get must be bought.
With a yoke[a] on our necks we are hard driven;
    we are weary; we are given no rest.(C)
We have made a pact with[b] Egypt and Assyria
    to get enough bread.(D)
Our ancestors sinned; they are no more,
    and we bear their iniquities.(E)
Slaves rule over us;
    there is no one to deliver us from their hand.(F)
We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
    because of the sword in the wilderness.

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Footnotes

  1. 5.5 Symmachus: Heb lacks With a yoke
  2. 5.6 Heb have given the hand to

15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;
    our dancing has been turned to mourning.(A)
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
    woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are sick;
    because of these things our eyes have grown dim:(B)
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate;
    jackals prowl over it.

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