1Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

look, and see our disgrace!*

2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our homes to aliens.*

3We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are like widows.

4We must pay for the water we drink;

the wood we get must be bought.

5With a yokeo on our necks we are hard driven;

we are weary; we are given no rest.*

6We have made a pact withp Egypt and Assyria

to get enough bread.*

7Our ancestors sinned; they are no more,

and we bear their iniquities.*

8Slaves rule over us;

there is no one to deliver us from their hand.*

9We get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword in the wilderness.

10Our skin is black as an oven

from the scorching heat of famine.*

11Women are raped in Zion,

young women in the towns of Judah.*

12Princes are hung up by their hands;

no respect is shown to the elders.*

13Young men are compelled to grind,

and boys stagger under loads of wood.*

14The old men have left the city gate,

the young men their music.

15The joy of our hearts has ceased;

our dancing has been turned to mourning.*

16The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

17Because of this our hearts are sick;

because of these things our eyes have grown dim:*

18because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate;

jackals prowl over it.

19But you, O Lord, reign forever;

your throne endures to all generations.*

20Why have you forgotten us completely?

Why have you forsaken us these many days?*

21Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored;

renew our days as of old—*

22unless you have utterly rejected us

and are angry with us beyond measure.*