Lamentations 5:1-22 - A Request For Mercy

¹ Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us; take note, and see our disgrace! ² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses, to foreigners. ³ We have become orphans, fatherless, our mothers are like widows. ⁴ {We pay for water with money}, our wood comes [to us] at a price. ⁵ We are driven on our necks; we are weary, there is no rest for us. ⁶ We have made a deal with Egypt [and] Assyria to be satisfied [with] food. ⁷ Our fathers have sinned, they are no more; we bear their iniquity. ⁸ Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand. ⁹ {We risk our life for food} because of the sword of the desert. ¹⁰ Our skin is hot like an oven because of the scorching famine. ¹¹ They raped women in Zion, young women in the cities of Judah. ¹² They hang princes by their hand; they do not show respect before elders. ¹³ Young men must carry a hand-mill and boys stumble under the wood. ¹⁴ Elders are no longer at the gate, young men no longer play stringed instruments. ¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has stopped; our circle-dancing has changed to a mourning ceremony. ¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! ¹⁷ Because of this, our heart has become faint, because of these, our eyes have become dim. ¹⁸ Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, {foxes tread on it}. ¹⁹ You, O Yahweh, will sit forever [on] your throne for generation to generation. ²⁰ Why have you forgotten us forever? Why have you forsaken us {for so long}? ²¹ Restore us to you, O Yahweh, that we will be restored; renew our days as of old. ²² Unless you have utterly rejected us, unless you are angry with us beyond measure.