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Lamentations 5

A Prayer for Mercy

1Remember, Lord, what has come upon us;

Look, and see our disgrace!

2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

Our houses to foreigners.

3We have become orphans, without a father;

Our mothers are like widows.

4We have to pay for our drinking water,

Our wood comes to us at a price.

5Our pursuers are at our necks;

We are worn out, we are given no rest.

6We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

7Our fathers sinned, and are gone;

It is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.

8Slaves rule over us;

There is no one to rescue us from their hand.

9We get our bread at the risk of our lives

Because of the sword in the wilderness.

10Our skin has become as hot as an oven,

Because of the ravages of hunger.

11They violated the women in Zion,

The virgins in the cities of Judah.

12Leaders were hung by their hands;

Elders were not respected.

13Young men worked at the grinding mill,

And youths staggered under loads of wood.

14Elders are absent from the gate,

Young men from their music.

15The joy of our hearts has ended;

Our dancing has been turned into mourning.

16The crown has fallen from our head;

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17Because of this our heart is faint,

Because of these things our eyes are dim;

18Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate,

Jackals prowl in it.

19You, Lord, rule forever;

Your throne is from generation to generation.

20Why will You forget us forever?

Why do You abandon us for so long?

21Restore us to You, Lord, so that we may be restored;

Renew our days as of old,

22Unless You have utterly rejected us

And are exceedingly angry with us.

Lamentations

Chapter 5

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