Lamentations 5

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