5:1 Remember, LORD, what has come upon us;
Look, and see our disgrace!
5:2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
Our houses to foreigners.
5:3 We have become orphans, without a father;
Our mothers are like widows.
5:4 ①We have to pay for our drinking water,
Our wood comes to us at a price.
▷ ①Lit We drink our water with silver
5:5 ①Our pursuers are at our necks;
We are worn out, we are given no rest.
▷ ①Lit We have been pursued upon
5:6 We have ①submitted to Egypt and Assyria ②to get enough bread.
▷ ①Lit given Egypt a hand ②Lit to be satisfied with
5:7 Our fathers sinned, and are gone;
It is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.
5:8 Slaves rule over us;
There is no one to rescue us from their hand.
5:9 We get our bread ①at the risk of our lives
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
▷ ①Lit with our soul
5:10 Our skin has become as hot as an oven,
Because of the ravages of hunger.
5:11 They violated the women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.
5:12 Leaders were hung by their hands;
①Elders were not respected.
▷ ①Lit The faces of elders
5:13 Young men ①worked at the grinding mill,
And youths staggered under loads of wood.
▷ ①Lit carried the
5:14 Elders are absent from the gate,
Young men from their music.
5:15 The joy of our hearts has ended;
Our dancing has been turned into mourning.
5:16 The crown has fallen from our head;
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
5:17 Because of this our heart is faint,
Because of these things our eyes are dim;
5:18 Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate,
Jackals prowl in it.
5:19 You, LORD, ①rule forever;
Your throne is from generation to generation.
▷ ①Lit sit
5:20 Why will You forget us forever?
Why do You abandon us for ①so long?
▷ ①Lit length of days
5:21 Restore us to You, LORD, so that we may be restored;
Renew our days as of old,
5:22 Unless You have utterly rejected us
And are exceedingly angry with us.