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]? |