LamentationsChapter 5

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¹Remember, LORD, what has happened to us.
Look and see our shame! ²Our land has been handed over to strangers.
Our houses have been given to foreigners.a ³We have become orphans with no fathers.
Our mothers are widows. ⁴We have to pay for the water we drink.
We have to buy our wood. ⁵Our enemies are close behind us.
We are tired and can find no rest. ⁶We gave ourselves to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread. ⁷Our fathers sinned, and they are gone.
But we carry their punishment. ⁸Slaves rule over us.
No one can save us from their hands. ⁹We risk our lives to get our bread,
because of the sword in the wilderness. ¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an oven.
We burn with fever from hunger. ¹¹Women have been raped in Zion.
Young girls have been raped in the towns of Judah. ¹²Princes have been hung up by their hands.
The leaders are not respected. ¹³Young men are forced to grind grain at millstones.
Boys stumble under loads of wood. ¹⁴The leaders no longer sit at the city gate.
The young men have stopped their music. ¹⁵Joy has left our hearts.
Our dancing has turned to sadness. ¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head.
How terrible for us, because we have sinned! ¹⁷Because of this our hearts are weak.
Because of these things our eyes grow dim, ¹⁸because Mount Zion lies empty,
and foxes prowl over it. ¹⁹But you, LORD, rule forever.
Your throne lasts from one generation to the next. ²⁰Why have you forgotten us forever?
Why have you forsaken us for so long? ²¹Bring us back to yourself, LORD,
so we may return.
Make our days new like they were long ago, ²²unless you have completely rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.