Lamentations 5

1Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold, and see our reproach.

1Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us; look and see our disgrace.

2Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens.

2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, and our homes to foreigners.

3We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows.

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

4We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold unto us.

4We have to pay for the water we drink; even our own wood is sold back to us.

5Our pursuers are upon our necks: We are weary, and have no rest.

5Those who chase us are right at our heels; we are exhausted and find no rest.

6We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

6We reached out for help to Egypt and Assyria just to get enough food to eat.

7Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities.

7Our ancestors sinned and are now gone, but we are the ones suffering for their wrongs.

8Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.

8Slaves are now ruling over us, and there is no one to rescue us from their power.

9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.

9We risk our lives to get food because of the threat of violence in the desert.

10Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.

10Our skin is hot and black like an oven because of the fever of starvation.

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

11Women in Zion were raped, and young women in the towns of Judah were violated.

12Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored.

12Leaders were hung up by their hands; the elderly were shown no respect.

13The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood.

13Young men are forced to grind grain at millstones, and boys stumble under heavy loads of wood.

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

14The old men no longer sit at the city gates, and the young men have stopped their music.

15The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.

15Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned into mourning.

16The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned.

16The crown has fallen from our head. How terrible it is for us, because we have sinned!

17For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;

17This is why our hearts are weak; because of these things, our vision is blurred;

18For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: The foxes walk upon it.

18because Mount Zion lies deserted, with jackals prowling all over it.

19Thou, O Jehovah, abidest for ever; Thy throne is from generation to generation.

19You, O LORD, rule forever; your throne lasts from one generation to the next.

20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, Andforsake us so long time?

20Why do you ignore us for so long? Why have you abandoned us for such a long time?

21Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old.

21Bring us back to you, O LORD, and we will return; restore our lives to how they used to be.

22But thou hast utterly rejected us; Thou art very wroth against us.

22Unless you have completely rejected us and are still very angry with us.