• 1 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.
  • 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
  • 3 We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows.
  • 4 We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.
  • 5 Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest.
  • 6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
  • 7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment.
  • 8 Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands.
  • 9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert.
  • 10 Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.
  • 11 Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah.
  • 12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect.
  • 13 Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
  • 14 The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
  • 15 Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
  • 16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
  • 17 Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim
  • 18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.
  • 19 You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
  • 20 Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
  • 21 Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old
  • 22 unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.