Prayer for Restoration
5 Yahweh, remember what has happened to us.
Look, and see our disgrace!(A)
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink;
our wood comes at a price.
5 We are closely pursued;
we are tired, and no one offers us rest.
6 We made a treaty with[a] Egypt
and with Assyria, to get enough food.(B)
7 Our fathers sinned; they no longer exist,
but we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us;(C)
no one rescues us from their hands.
9 We secure our food at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is as hot[b] as an oven(D)
from the ravages of hunger.
11 Women are raped in Zion,
girls in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.(E)
13 Young men labor at millstones;(F)
boys stumble under loads of wood.
14 The elders have left the city gate,
the young men, their music.(G)
15 Joy has left our hearts;(H)
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.(I)
Woe to us, for we have sinned.(J)
17 Because of this, our heart is sick;
because of these, our eyes grow dim:(K)
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate
and has jackals prowling in it.(L)
19 You, Lord, are enthroned forever;
Your throne endures from generation to generation.(M)
20 Why have You forgotten us forever,(N)
abandoned us for our entire lives?
21 Lord, restore us to Yourself, so we may return;(O)
renew our days as in former times,
22 unless You have completely rejected us
and are intensely angry with us.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 5:6 Lit We gave the hand to
- Lamentations 5:10 Or black; Hb obscure
Cross references
- 5:1 : Ps 74:18, 22; 89:50-51
- 5:6 : Hs 12:1
- 5:8 : Pr 30:21-23; Ec 10:7
- 5:10 : Lm 4:8
- 5:12 : Lm 4:16
- 5:13 : Ex 11:5; Jdg 16:21; Is 47:2
- 5:14 : Is 24:8
- 5:15 : Am 8:10
- 5:16 : Jb 19:9; Is 28:3; Jr 13:18
- 5:16 : Jr 8:14; 14:20; Dn 9:11
- 5:17 : Ps 69:23; Ec 12:3
- 5:18 : Is 13:19-22; 34:11-15
- 5:19 : Ps 9:7; 45:6; 102:12; Ezk 43:7; Heb 1:8; Rv 4:9-10; 5:13
- 5:20 : Ps 13:1
- 5:21 : Jr 15:19; 31:18