[1] Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
[2] Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
[3] We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
[4] We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
[5] We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
[6] We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
[7] Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
[8] Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
[9] We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
[10] Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
[11] Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
[12] Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
[13] Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
[14] The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
[15] Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
[16] The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
[17] Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
[18] because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
[19] You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
[20] Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
[21] Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
[22] unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.