Chapter 5
The Community’s Lament to the Lord
1 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us,
pay attention, and see our disgrace:
2 Our heritage is turned over to strangers,
our homes, to foreigners.(A)
3 We have become orphans, without fathers;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We pay money to drink our own water,
our own wood comes at a price.
5 With a yoke on our necks, we are driven;
we are worn out, but allowed no rest.
6 We extended a hand to Egypt and Assyria,
to satisfy our need of bread.
7 Our ancestors, who sinned, are no more;
but now we bear their guilt.
8 Servants rule over us,
with no one to tear us from their hands.
9 We risk our lives just to get bread,
exposed to the desert heat;(B)
10 Our skin heats up like an oven,
from the searing blasts of famine.(C)
11 Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the cities of Judah;(D)
12 Princes have been hanged by them,
elders shown no respect.(E)
13 Young men carry millstones,
boys stagger under loads of wood;
14 The elders have abandoned the gate,
the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased,
dancing has turned into mourning;(F)
16 The crown has fallen from our head:
woe to us that we sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts grow sick,
at this our eyes grow dim:
18 Because of Mount Zion, lying desolate,
and the jackals roaming there!
19 But you, Lord, are enthroned forever;
your throne stands from age to age.(G)
20 Why have you utterly forgotten us,
forsaken us for so long?(H)
21 Bring us back to you, Lord, that we may return:
renew our days as of old.(I)
22 For now you have indeed rejected us
and utterly turned your wrath against us.(J)
Footnotes
- 5:6
- 5:8
- 5:14
- 5:20–22
Cross references
- 5:2 : Ps 79:1.
- 5:9 : Lam 1:11.
- 5:10 : Lam 4:8.
- 5:11 : Zec 14:2.
- 5:12 : Lam 4:16.
- 5:15 : Jer 16:9; 25:10; Am 8:10.
- 5:19 : Ps 9:8; 45:7; 102:13, 27.
- 5:20 : Ps 13:2; 42:10; Is 49:14.
- 5:21 : Ps 80:19–20.
- 5:22 : Jer 14:19.
