¹ Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
³ We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
⁴ We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
⁵ Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
⁶ We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
⁷ Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
⁸ Slaves rule over us,
and there is no one to free us from their hands.
⁹ We get our bread at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
¹⁰ Our skin is hot as an oven,
feverish from hunger.
¹¹ Women have been violated in Zion,
and virgins in the towns of Judah.
¹² Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
¹³ Young men toil at the millstones;
boys stagger under loads of wood.
¹⁴ The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
¹⁵ Joy is gone from 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 things our eyes grow dim
¹⁸ for Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
with jackals prowling over it.
¹⁹ You, Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from generation to generation.
²⁰ Why do you always forget us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
²¹ Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
²² unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.