Lamentations 5

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Yahweh, remember what has happened to us; consider, and see our degradation.	1 Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us, look, and see our disgrace:
2 Our heritage has passed to strangers, our homes to foreigners.	2 Our inherited lands have been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
3 We are orphans, we are fatherless; our mothers are like widows.	3 We have become orphans, fatherless; widowed are our mothers.
4 We have to buy our own water to drink, our own wood we can get only at a price.	4 The water we drink we must buy, for our own wood we must pay.
5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted; exhausted we are, al owed no rest.	5 On our necks is the yoke of those who drive us; we are worn out, but allowed no rest.
6 We made a pact with Egypt, with Assyria, to have plenty of food.	6 To Egypt we submitted, and to Assyria, to fill our need of bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear the weight of their guilt.	7 Our fathers, who sinned, are no more; but we bear their guilt.
8 Slaves rule us; there is no one to rescue us from their clutches.	8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their hands.
9 At peril of our lives we earn our bread, by risking the sword of the desert.	9 At the peril of our lives we bring in our sustenance, in the face of the desert heat;
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven, from the scorch of famine.	10 Our skin is shriveled up, as though by a furnace, with the searing blasts of famine.
11 The women in Zion have been raped, the young girls in the towns of Judah.	11 The wives in Zion were ravished by the enemy, the maidens in the cities of Judah;
12 Princes have been hanged by their hands; the face of the old has won no respect.	12 Princes were gibbeted by them, elders shown no respect.
13 Youths have been put to the mil , boys stagger under loads of wood.	13 The youths carry the millstones, boys stagger under their loads of wood;
14 The elders have deserted the gateway; the young have given up their music.	14 The old men have abandoned the gate, the young men their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.	15 The joy of our hearts has ceased, our dance has turned into mourning;
16 The crown has fallen from our heads. Alas that ever we sinned!	16 The garlands have fallen from our heads: woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 This is why our hearts are sick; this is why our eyes are dim:	17 Over this our hearts are sick, at this our eyes grow dim:
18 because Mount Zion is desolate; jackals roam to and fro on it.	18 That Mount Zion should be desolate, with jackals roaming there!
19 Yet you, Yahweh, rule from eternity; your throne endures from age to age.	19 You, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your throne stands from age to age.
20 Why do you never remember us? Why do you abandon us so long?	20 Why, then, should you forget us, abandon us so long a time?
21 Make us come back to you, Yahweh, and we will come back. Restore us as we were before!	21 Lead us back to you, O LORD, that we may be restored: give us anew such days as we had of old.
22 Unless you have utterly rejected us, in an anger which knows no limit.	22 For now you have indeed rejected us, and in full measure turned your wrath against us.