[1] Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace!
[2] Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.
[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] With a
yoke on our necks we are hard driven; 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 ravished in Zion, virgins 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 quit 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 thou, O LORD, dost reign for ever; thy throne
endures to all generations. [20] Why dost thou forget us for ever, why dost
thou so long forsake us? [21] Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be
restored! Renew our days as of old! [22] Or hast thou utterly rejected us?
Art thou exceedingly angry with us?