Lamentations 5
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 5
The Prophet’s Plea for Mercy
1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inherited lands have been given to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must purchase the water we drink;
we must pay for our own wood.
5 On our necks is the yoke of those who persecute us;
although we are exhausted, we are afforded no rest.
6 We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread to sustain us.
7 Our ancestors who sinned are no longer alive,
but we bear the burden of their guilt.
8 Slaves have become our rulers;
there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 We earn our bread at the peril of our lives
because of the sword in the wilderness.[a]
10 Our skin is blackened as in a furnace
from the scorching heat of famine.
11 Women have been raped 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, carrying the millstones;
boys stagger under their loads of wood.
14 The old men no longer assemble at the city gate;[b]
the young men have given up their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The garlands have fallen from our heads;
woe to us, for we have sinned.
17 This is why we are sick at heart;
because of this our eyes have grown dim.
18 Mount Zion lies desolate,
overrun with jackals.
19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from age to age.
20 Why have you ceased to remember us?
Why have you abandoned us for so long a time?
21 Restore us back to you, O Lord, and we will return.[c]
Renew our days as we had of old,
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
with an anger that is beyond measure.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 5:9 Sword in the wilderness: they could get bread only by exposing themselves to the dangers of the wilderness.
- Lamentations 5:14 Gate: public life and political activity were carried on at the gates of the city.
- Lamentations 5:21 The first part of this verse is more familiar to us in the Vulgate translation: “Convert us, O Lord, and we shall be converted!”
耶利米哀歌 5
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
求耶和華憐憫
5 耶和華啊，求你顧念我們的遭遇，
看看我們所受的恥辱！
2 我們的土地被陌生人侵佔，
我們的房屋落入外族人手中。
3 我們成了喪父的孤兒，
我們的母親成了寡婦。
4 我們喝水要付錢，
燒的柴要用錢買。
5 敵人緊追不捨，
我們疲憊不堪，不得安歇。
6 為了得到食物，
我們向埃及、亞述卑躬屈膝。
7 我們的祖先犯了罪，
已經逝去，
我們卻要承擔他們的罪責。
8 奴僕做了我們的主人，
無人從他們手中解救我們。
9 曠野中殺機四伏，
我們冒著生命危險才得到糧食。
10 我們因饑餓而發熱，
皮膚熱如烤爐。
11 婦女在錫安遭強暴，
少女在猶大被姦污。
12 首領雙手被吊起來，
老人得不到尊敬。
13 青年被迫推磨，
孩童肩背柴捆，步履蹣跚。
14 老人不再坐在城門口，
青年不再彈琴奏樂。
15 我們心中的快樂消失，
我們的舞蹈變成了哀哭。
16 榮耀的冠冕從我們頭上落下。
我們犯了罪，我們有禍了！
17 此情此景使我們黯然神傷，
淚眼模糊。
18 錫安山一片荒涼，
豺狼四處遊蕩。
19 耶和華啊，你永遠掌權，
你的寶座世代長存。
20 你為何永遠忘記我們？
為何如此長久地棄絕我們？
21 耶和華啊，求你使我們回到你身邊，
讓我們歸向你，
恢復我們昔日的繁榮！
22 難道你完全棄絕了我們，
仍然向我們大發烈怒嗎？
