NRSV Lamentations 5 Chapter
1 2 3 4 5
5:1
Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
5:2
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.
5:3
We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
5:4
We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
5:5
With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.
5:6
We have made a pact with Egypt and Assyria, to get enough bread.
5:7
Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear their iniquities.
5:8
Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
5:9
5:10
Our skin is black as an oven from the scorching heat of famine.
5:11
Women are raped in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.
5:12
Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.
5:13
Young men are compelled to grind, and boys stagger under loads of wood.
5:14
The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music.
5:15
The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been 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, because of these things our eyes have grown dim:
5:18
because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
5:19
But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.
5:20
Why have you forgotten us completely? Why have you forsaken us these many days?
5:21
Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old--
5:22
unless you have utterly rejected us, and are angry with us beyond measure.