Lamentations 5

Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

1Remember, LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see how ashamed we are.

2Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

2Our land was handed over to strangers. Foreigners live in our houses now.

3We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

3We are like children with no father. Our mothers are like women with no husband.

4We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

4We have to pay money for the water we drink. We have to buy our own wood.

5Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

5Our enemies chase us close behind. We work hard and never get to rest.

6We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

6We gave in to Egypt and Assyria. We did it just to get enough bread.

7Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

7Our fathers sinned, and now they are gone. We are the ones being punished for it.

8Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

8Slaves rule over us now. No one can save us from their power.

9We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

9We risk our lives to get bread. Enemies with swords wait out in the open land.

10Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

10Our skin is hot like an oven. Hunger has made our bodies burn.

Note"Our skin was black like an oven" does not mean their skin changed color. It means their skin was burning hot, like the wall of an oven, because they were starving.

11They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

11The women of Zion were raped. Young girls in the towns of Judah were too.

12Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

12Our leaders were hung up by their hands. The old men were shown no respect.

13They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

13Young men are forced to grind grain. Boys stumble under heavy loads of wood.

14The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

14The old men no longer sit at the city gate, where they used to settle problems. The young men have stopped making music.

15The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

15Our hearts are not glad anymore. We used to dance. Now we cry.

16The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

16The crown has fallen off our head. We have sinned, and it is terrible for us.

17For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

17Because of this our hearts feel weak. Because of these things our eyes are dim.

18Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

18Mount Zion is empty and broken. Foxes walk around on it.

19Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

19But you, LORD, stay forever. You sit on your throne, age after age.

20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

20Why do you forget us for so long? Why do you stay away all this time?

21Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

21Bring us back to you, LORD, and we will come. Make our days new, like long ago.

22But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

22But you have turned away from us completely. You are very angry with us.

NoteThe Hebrew here can be read two ways. It can say "you have turned away from us," as the King James Version has it. It can also say "unless you have turned away from us," which joins it to verse 21 as part of the request. Modern translations are divided.