Lamentations 5
English Standard Version
Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord
5 (A)Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see (B)our disgrace!
2 (C)Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink;
the wood we get must be bought.
5 (D)Our pursuers are at our necks;
we are weary; we are given no rest.
6 We have given the hand to (E)Egypt, and to (F)Assyria,
to get bread enough.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
(G)and we bear their iniquities.
8 (H)Slaves rule over us;
there is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 (I)We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 (J)Our skin is hot as an oven
with (K)the burning heat of famine.
11 Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the towns of Judah.
12 (L)Princes are hung up by their hands;
(M)no respect is shown to the elders.
13 Young men are compelled to (N)grind at the mill,
and boys stagger (O)under loads of wood.
14 (P)The old men have left the city gate,
the young men (Q)their music.
15 (R)The joy of our hearts has ceased;
(S)our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 (T)The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this (U)our heart has become sick,
for these things (V)our eyes have grown dim,
18 for Mount Zion which lies desolate;
(W)jackals prowl over it.
19 (X)But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures to all generations.
20 (Y)Why do you forget us forever,
why do you forsake us for so many days?
21 (Z)Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
Renew our days as of old—
22 (AA)unless you have utterly rejected us,
and you remain exceedingly angry with us.
Ekhah 5
Orthodox Jewish Bible
5 Remember, Hashem, what is come upon us; consider, and behold our reproach.
2 Our nachalah is turned over to zarim, our batim (houses) to foreigners.
3 We are yetomim and fatherless, immoteinu are like almanot.
4 We must pay kesef for our own mayim; our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution; we are weary, and have no rest.
6 We have submitted to the Mitzrayim, and to the Assyrians, to get enough lechem.
7 Avoteinu have sinned, and are no more; and we have borne their iniquities.
8 Avadim have ruled over us; there is none that doth deliver us out of their yad.
9 We get our lechem with the peril of our lives because of the cherev of the midbar.
10 Our skin was hot like an oven because we burn with ra’av (hunger, famine).
11 They ravished the nashim in Tziyon, and the betulot in the towns of Yehudah.
12 Sarim (princes) are hanged by their yad; the faces of Zekenim were not respected.
13 They took the bochurim to grind, and the ne’arim staggered under the wood.
14 The zekenim have ceased from the sha’ar, the bochurim from their music.
15 The joy of our heart is gone; mekholeinu (our dance) is turned into mourning.
16 The ateret is fallen from our head; woe unto us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our lev is faint; because of these things our eyes are dim.
18 Because of the Har Tziyon, which is desolate, the jackals prowl upon it.
19 Thou, Hashem, remainest forever;Thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Why dost Thou forget us forever, and forsake us for so long?
21 Restore us, Hashem, to Thyself that we may return; renew yamenu (our days) as of old.
22 Unless Thou hast utterly rejected us and Thou art angry with us beyond measure.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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