A Prayer for Restoration
1 Remember,
a O
Lord , what has come upon us;
Look, and behold
b our reproach!
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2 a Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
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3 We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers
are like
a widows.
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4 We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
5 a They pursue at our
1 heels;
We labor
and have no rest.
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6 a We have given our hand
b to the Egyptians
And the
c Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
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7 a Our fathers sinned
and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
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8 Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver
us from their hand.
9 We get our bread
at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
11 They
a ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
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12 Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
13 Young men
a ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under
loads of wood.
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14 The elders have ceased
gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their
a music.
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15 The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into
a mourning.
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16 a The crown has fallen
from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
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17 Because of this our heart is faint;
a Because of these
things our eyes grow dim;
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New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
