LAMENTATIONS 5 [†]  c Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us;

look, and see  d our disgrace!

2[†]  e 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[†]  f Our pursuers are at our necks; [1]

we are weary; we are given no rest.

6[†] We have given the hand to  g Egypt, and to  g Assyria,

to get bread enough.

7[†] Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

 h and we bear their iniquities.

8[†]  i Slaves rule over us;

there is none to deliver us from their hand.

9[†]  j We get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

10[†]  k Our skin is hot as an oven

with  l the burning heat of famine.

11[†] Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.

12[†]  m Princes are hung up by their hands;

 n no respect is shown to the elders.

13[†] Young men are compelled to  o grind at the mill,

and boys stagger  p under loads of wood.

14[†]  n The old men have left the city gate,

the young men  q their music.

15  q The joy of our hearts has ceased;

 r our dancing has been turned to mourning.

16[†]  s The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

17[†] For this  t our heart has become sick,

for these things  u our eyes have grown dim,

18[†] for Mount Zion which lies desolate;

 v jackals prowl over it.

19[†]  w But you, O LORD, reign forever;

your throne endures to all generations.

20[†]  x Why do you forget us forever,

why do you forsake us for so many days?

21[^][†]  y Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!

Renew our days as of old—

22[†]  z unless you have utterly rejected us,

and you remain exceedingly angry with us.