Lamentations 5

1Remember, Yahweh, what has befallen us; look, behold, and see our reproach.

2Our inheritance has passed to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

3We are orphans and have no father; our mothers are like widows.

4We drink our water for money; our wood comes to us for a price.

5Pursued upon our necks, we grow weary, and no rest is granted us.

6We have given our hand to Egypt and to Assyria to have enough bread.

7Our fathers sinned and are no more; we ourselves bear their iniquities.

8Slaves have ruled over us; no deliverer exists from their hand.

9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

10Our skin blackened like a furnace because of the burnings of famine.

11They violated the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.

12Princes were hanged by their hands; elders' faces were not honored.

13They took young men for grinding, and boys staggered under the wood.

14The elders have withdrawn from the gate, the young men from their music.

15The joy of our heart has ceased; our dancing has turned to mourning.

16The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

17For this our heart has become faint; for these our eyes have darkened.

18Because Mount Zion is desolate, foxes walk upon it.

19You, Yahweh, remain forever; your throne from generation to generation.

20Why do you forget us forever and forsake us so long?

21Restore us to you, Yahweh, and we will return; renew our days as before.

22Unless you have utterly rejected us and been angry against us exceedingly.