Lamentations 5
Living Bible
5 O Lord, remember all that has befallen us; see what sorrows we must bear! 2 Our homes, our nation, now are filled with foreigners. 3 We are orphans—our fathers dead, our mothers widowed. 4 We must even pay for water to drink; our fuel is sold to us at the highest of prices. 5 We bow our necks beneath the victors’ feet; unending work is now our lot. 6 We beg for bread from Egypt, and Assyria too.
7 Our fathers sinned but died before the hand of judgment fell. We have borne the blow that they deserved!
8 Our former servants have become our masters; there is no one left to save us. 9 We went into the wilderness to hunt for food, risking death from enemies. 10 Our skin was black from famine. 11 They rape the women of Jerusalem and the girls in Judah’s cities. 12 Our princes are hanged by their thumbs. Even aged men are treated with contempt. 13 They take away the young men to grind their grain, and the little children stagger beneath their heavy loads.
14 The old men sit no longer in the city gates; the young no longer dance and sing. 15 The joy of our hearts has ended; our dance has turned to death.[a] 16 Our glory is gone. The crown is fallen from our head. Woe upon us for our sins. 17 Our hearts are faint and weary; our eyes grow dim. 18 Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord are desolate, deserted by all but wild animals lurking in the ruins.
19 O Lord, forever you remain the same! Your throne continues from generation to generation. 20 Why do you forget us forever? Why do you forsake us for so long? 21 Turn us around and bring us back to you again! That is our only hope! Give us back the joys we used to have! 22 Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you angry with us still?
Footnotes
- Lamentations 5:15 to death, literally, “to mourning.”
Lamentations 5
King James Version
5 Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
19 Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.