Lamentations 5
The People of Jerusalem Pray:
5:11 O
consider3 and look at4 our disgrace.
5:2 Our inheritance5 is turned over to strangers;
foreigners now occupy our homes.6
5:3 We have become fatherless orphans;
our mothers have become widows.
5:4 We must pay money7 for our own water;8
we must buy our own wood at a steep price.9
5:5 We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks;10
we are weary and have no rest.11
5:6 We have submitted12 to Egypt and Assyria
in order to buy food to eat.13
5:7 Our forefathers14 sinned and are dead,15
but we16 suffer17 their punishment.18
5:8 Slaves19 rule over us;
there is no one to rescue us from their power.20
5:9 At the risk21 of our lives22 we get our food23
because robbers lurk24 in the countryside.25
5:10 Our skin is hot as an oven
due to a fever from hunger.26
5:11 They raped27 women in Zion,
virgins in the towns of Judah.
5:12 Princes were hung by their hands;
elders were mistreated.28
5:13 The young men perform menial labor;29
boys stagger from their labor.30
5:14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped playing their music.
5:15 Our hearts no longer have any joy;31
our dancing is turned to mourning.
5:16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
5:17 Because of this, our hearts are sick;32
because of these things, we can hardly see33 through our tears.34
5:18 For wild animals35 are prowling over Mount Zion,
which lies desolate.
5:19 But you, O
your throne endures from generation to generation.
5:20 Why do you keep on forgetting36 us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
5:21 Bring us back to yourself, O
renew our life38 as in days before,39
5:22 unless40 you have utterly rejected us41
and are angry with us beyond measure.42