Lamentations 5
Modern English Version
A Prayer for Restoration
5 Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us;
look, and see our reproach!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink;
our wood is sold to us.
5 Our pursuers are at our necks;
we labor and have no rest.
6 We have given our hand to Egypt and to Assyria,
to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more,
but we bear their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us;
there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
because of the terrible famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion,
the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hung up by their hands,
the faces of elders were not honored.
13 Young men ground at the millstones;
boys staggered under loads of wood.
14 The elders have left the city gate,
the young men stopped their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint;
for these things our eyes grow dim;
18 because of Mount Zion, which is desolate,
with foxes walking upon it.
19 You, O Lord, remain forever;
Your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do You forget us forever,
and forsake us for so long a time?
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 very angry with us.
Lamentations 5
Authorized (King James) Version
5 Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us:
consider, and behold our reproach.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers,
our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless,
our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunken our water for money;
our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution:
we labour, and have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians,
and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not;
and we have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us:
there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives
because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin was black like an oven
because of the terrible famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion,
and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes are hanged up by their hand:
the faces of elders were not honoured.
13 They took the young men to grind,
and the children fell under the wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate,
the young men from their musick.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased;
our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head:
woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint;
for these things our eyes are dim.
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate,
the foxes walk upon it.
19 Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever;
thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever,
and forsake us so long time?
21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned;
renew our days as of old.
22 But thou hast utterly rejected us;
thou art very wroth against us.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.