1O Lord, reflect on what has happened to us;consider and look at our disgrace.
2Our inheritance is turned over to strangers;foreigners now occupy our homes.
3We have become fatherless orphans;our mothers have become widows.
4We must pay money for our own water;we must buy our own wood at a steep price.
5We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks;we are weary and have no rest.
6We have submitted to Egypt and Assyriain order to buy food to eat.
7Our forefathers sinned and are dead,but we suffer their punishment.
8Slaves rule over us;there is no one to rescue us from their power.
9At the risk of our lives we get our foodbecause robbers lurk in the countryside.
10Our skin is hot as an ovendue to a fever from hunger.
11They raped women in Zion,virgins in the towns of Judah.
12Princes were hung by their hands;elders were mistreated.
13The young men perform menial labor;boys stagger from their labor.
14The elders are gone from the city gate;the young men have stopped playing their music.
15Our hearts no longer have any joy;our dancing is turned to mourning.
16The crown has fallen from our head;woe to us, for we have sinned!
17Because of this, our hearts are sick;because of these things, we can hardly see through our tears.
18For wild animals are prowling over Mount Zion,which lies desolate.
19But you, O Lord, reign forever;your throne endures from generation to generation.
20Why do you keep on forgetting us?Why do you forsake us so long?
21Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return to you;renew our life as in days before,
22unless you have utterly rejected usand are angry with us beyond measure.