[1] O Lord, [earnestly] remember what has come upon us! Look down and see our reproach (our national disgrace)! [2] Our inheritance has fallen over to strangers, our houses to foreigners. [3] We have become orphans and fatherless; our mothers are like widows. [4] We have had to pay money to drink the water that belongs to us; our [own] wood is sold to us. [5] Our pursuers are upon our necks [like a yoke]; we are weary and are allowed no rest. [6] We have given the hand [as a pledge of fidelity and submission] to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians [merely] to get food to satisfy [our hunger]. [7] Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we have borne their iniquities. [8] Servants and slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hands. [9] We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness [the wild Arabs, who may attack if we venture into the fields to reap our harvests]. [10] Our skin glows and is parched as from [the heat of] an oven because of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine. [11] They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah. [12] They hung princes by their hands; the persons of elders were not respected. [13] Young men carried millstones, and boys fell [staggering] under [burdens of] wood. [14] The elders have ceased from [congregating at] the city's gate, the young men from their music. [15] Ceased is the joy of our hearts; our dancing has turned into mourning. [16] The crown has fallen from our head [our honor is brought to the dust]! Woe to us, for we have sinned! [17] Because of this our hearts are faint and sick; because of these things our eyes are dim and see darkly. [18] As for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, the jackals prowl over it! [19] But You, O Lord, remain and reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to [all] generations. [20] Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long? [21] Turn us to Yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned and restored! Renew our days as of old!- [22] Or have You utterly rejected us? Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?
