[1] Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
[2] Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
[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] Our pursuers are at our necks; 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 raped in Zion, young women 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 left 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 you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.
[20] Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?
[21] Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—
[22] unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.