1 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us,pay attention, and see our disgrace:
2 Our heritage is turned over to strangers,our homes, to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, without fathers;our mothers are like widows.
4 We pay money to drink our own water,our own wood comes at a price.
5 With a yoke on our necks, we are driven;we are worn out, but allowed no rest.
6 We extended a hand to Egypt and Assyria,to satisfy our need of bread.
7 Our ancestors, who sinned, are no more;but now we bear their guilt.
8 Servants rule over us,with no one to tear us from their hands.
9 We risk our lives just to get bread,exposed to the desert heat;
10 Our skin heats up like an oven,from the searing blasts of famine.
11 Women are raped in Zion,young women in the cities of Judah;
12 Princes have been hanged by them,elders shown no respect.
13 Young men carry millstones,boys stagger under loads of wood;
14 The elders have abandoned the gate,the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased,dancing has turned into mourning;
16 The crown has fallen from our head:woe to us that we sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts grow sick,at this our eyes grow dim:
18 Because of Mount Zion, lying desolate,and the jackals roaming there!
19 But you, Lord, are enthroned forever;your throne stands from age to age.
20 Why have you utterly forgotten us,forsaken us for so long?
21 Bring us back to you, Lord, that we may return:renew our days as of old.
22 For now you have indeed rejected usand utterly turned your wrath against us.