5 Remember, O Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, what has befallen us.
Look and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans without a father; our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay to drink our own water, and our own wood comes at a price.
5 Those pursuing us are at our neck;
We are weary, but we are given no rest.
6 We hold out our hand to Egypt and to As·syrʹi·a, to get enough bread to eat.
7 Our forefathers who sinned are no more, but we must bear their errors.
8 Servants now rule over us; there is no one to snatch us from their hand.
9 We bring in our bread at the risk of our life, because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin has become as hot as a furnace, because of the pangs of hunger.
11 The wives in Zion they have humiliated, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged by their hand, and elders were shown no respect.
13 Young men carry the hand mill, and boys stumble under loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate; young men do not play their music.
15 The joy is gone from our heart; our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, because we have sinned!
17 Because of this our heart is sick,
And because of these things our eyes have grown dim,
18 Because of Mount Zion, which is desolate; foxes now roam on it.
19 As for you, O Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, you sit enthroned forever.
Your throne is for generation after generation.
20 Why do you forget us forever and abandon us for so long a time?
21 Bring us back to yourself, O Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, and we will readily return to you.
Renew our days as in those of old.
22 However, you have utterly rejected us.
You remain intensely angry with us.