[1] O LORD, reflect on what has happened to us; consider and look at our disgrace. [2] Our inheritance is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes. [3] We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers have become widows. [4] We must pay money for our own water; we must buy our own wood at a steep price. [5] We are pursued-they are breathing down our necks; we are weary and have no rest. [6] We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria in order to buy food to eat. [7] Our forefathers sinned and are dead, but we suffer their punishment. [8] Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power. [9] At the risk of our lives we get our food because robbers lurk in the wilderness. [10] Our skin is as hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger. [11] They raped women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah. [12] Princes were hung by their hands; elders were mistreated. [13] The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor. [14] The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped playing their music. [15] Our hearts no longer have any joy; our dancing is 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 sick; because of these things, we can hardly see through our tears. [18] For wild animals are prowling over Mount Zion, which lies desolate. [19] But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. [20] Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long? [21] Bring us back to yourself, O LORD, so that we may return to you; renew our life as in days before, [22] unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.
