1 O Lord, remember what has happened to us. Look, and see our shame!

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

2 T he land we received from You has been given over to strangers. Our homes have been given to people from other lands.

Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

3 W e have lost our fathers. Our mothers are like those who have lost their husbands.

We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

4 W e have to pay for our drinking water, and we must buy our wood.

We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

5 T hose who come after us are at our necks. We are tired and cannot rest.

Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

6 W e have put out our hands to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7 O ur fathers sinned, and are no more, and we have suffered for their sins.

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

8 S ervants rule over us. There is no one to save us from their hand.

Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

9 W e put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword in the desert.

We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

10 O ur skin has become as hot as fire because of the burning heat of hunger.

Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

11 T hey have taken and sinned against the women in Zion, and the young women who have never had a man in the cities of Judah.

They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

12 R ulers were hung by their hands. Leaders were not respected.

Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

13 Y oung men worked to grind the grain, and boys fell under loads of wood.

They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

14 T he old men have left the city gate. Young men have stopped playing their music.

The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

15 T he joy of our hearts has come to an end. Our dancing has been turned into sorrow.

The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

16 T he crown has fallen from our head. It is bad for us, for we have sinned!

The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

17 B ecause of this our heart is weak. Because of these things our eyes are weak.

For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

18 M ount Zion lies in waste, so foxes run all over it.

Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

19 O Lord, You rule forever. Your throne will last for all people-to-come.

Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

20 W hy do You forget us forever? Why do You leave us alone for so long?

Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

21 R eturn us to You, O Lord. Bring us back. Make our days as they were before.

Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

22 O r have You turned away from us forever? Is there no end to Your anger?

But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.