[1] Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! [2] Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. [3] We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. [4] We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. [5] Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest. [6] We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough. [7] Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. [8] Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. [9] We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. [10] Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. [11] Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. [12] Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. [13] Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood. [14] The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. [15] The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. [16] The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! [17] For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, [18] for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. [19] But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. [20] Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? [21] Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old- [22] unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.
