Lamentações 5

A Prayer for Restoration

1 Remember, *Ps. 89:50O Lord, what has come upon us;

Look, and behold *Ps. 79:4; Lam. 2:15our reproach!

2 *Ps. 79:1Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,

And our houses to foreigners.

3 We have become orphans and waifs,

Our mothers are like *Ex. 22:24; Jer. 15:8; 18:21widows.

4 We pay for the water we drink,

And our wood comes at a price.

5 *Deut. 28:48; Jer. 28:14They pursue at our heels;

We labor and have no rest.

6 *Gen. 24:2We have given our hand *Hos. 9:3; 12:1to the Egyptians

And the *Jer. 2:18; Hos. 5:13Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7 *Jer. 31:29Our fathers sinned andare no more,

But we bear their iniquities.

8 Servants rule over us;

Thereis none to deliver us from their hand.

9 We get our bread attherisk of our lives,

Because of the sword in the wilderness.

10 Our skin is hot as an oven,

Because of the fever of famine.

11 They *Is. 13:16; Zech. 14:2ravished the women in Zion,

The maidens in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes were hung up by their hands,

And elders were not respected.

13 Young men *Judg. 16:21ground at the millstones;

Boys staggered under loadsof wood.

14 The elders have ceased gatheringat the gate,

And the young men from their *Is. 24:8; Jer. 7:34music.

15 The joy of our heart has ceased;

Our dance has turned into *Jer. 25:10; Amos 8:10mourning.

16 *Job 19:9; Ps. 89:39; Jer. 13:18The crown has fallen from our head.

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17 Because of this our heart is faint;

*Ps. 6:7Because of these things our eyes grow dim;

18 Because of Mount Zion which is *Is. 27:10desolate,

With foxes walking about on it.

19 You, O Lord, *Ps. 9:7; Hab. 1:12remain forever;

*Ps. 45:6Your throne from generation to generation.

20 *Ps. 13:1; 44:24Why do You forget us forever,

And forsake us for so long a time?

21 *Ps. 80:3, 7, 19; Jer. 31:18Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored;

Renew our days as of old,

22 Unless You have utterly rejected us,

And are very angry with us!