5:1  O LORD, [earnestly] remember what has come upon us! Look down and see our reproach (our national disgrace)!

5:2  Our inheritance has fallen over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

5:3  We have become orphans and fatherless; our mothers are like widows.

5:4  We have had to pay money to drink the water that belongs to us; our [own] wood is sold to us.

5:5  Our pursuers are upon our necks [like a yoke]; we are weary and are allowed no rest.

5:6  We have given the hand [as a pledge of fidelity and submission] to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians [merely] to get food to satisfy [our hunger].

5:7  Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we have borne their iniquities.

5:8  Servants {and} slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hands.

5:9  We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness [the wild Arabs, who may attack if we venture into the fields to reap our harvests].

5:10  Our skin glows {and} is parched as from [the heat of] an oven because of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine.

5:11  They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.

5:12  They hung princes by their hands; the persons of elders were not respected.

5:13  Young men carried millstones, and boys fell [staggering] under [burdens of] wood.

5:14  The elders have ceased from [congregating at] the city's gate, the young men from their music.

5:15  Ceased is the joy of our hearts; our dancing has turned into mourning.

5:16  The crown has fallen from our head [our honor is brought to the dust]! Woe to us, for we have sinned!

5:17  Because of this our hearts are faint {and} sick; because of these things our eyes are dim {and} see darkly.

5:18  As for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, the jackals prowl over it!

5:19  But You, O Lord, remain {and} reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to [all] generations.

5:20  Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?

5:21  Turn us to Yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned {and} restored! Renew our days as of old!--

5:22  Or have You utterly rejected us? Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?