• A Prayer for Restoration

  • 1 Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us; Look, and behold our reproach!
  • 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, And our houses to foreigners.
  • 3 We have become orphans and waifs, Our mothers are like widows.
  • 4 We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price.
  • 5 They pursue at our heels; We labor and have no rest.
  • 6 We have given our hand to the Egyptians And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
  • 7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, But we bear their iniquities.
  • 8 Servants rule over us; There is none to deliver us from their hand.
  • 9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives, Because of the sword in the wilderness.
  • 10 Our skin is hot as an oven, Because of the fever of famine.
  • 11 They ravished the women in Zion, The maidens in the cities of Judah.
  • 12 Princes were hung up by their hands, And elders were not respected.
  • 13 Young men ground at the millstones; Boys staggered under loads of wood.
  • 14 The elders have ceased gathering at the gate, And the young men from their music.
  • 15 The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning.
  • 16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
  • 17 Because of this our heart is faint; Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
  • 18 Because of Mount Zion which is desolate, With foxes walking about on it.
  • 19 You, O Lord, remain forever; Your throne from generation to generation.
  • 20 Why do You forget us forever, And forsake us for so long a time?
  • 21 Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old,
  • 22 Unless You have utterly rejected us, And are very angry with us!