Lamentations 5 :: Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our houses to foreigners.

We have become orphans, fatherless;

our mothers are widows.

We must pay for the water we drink;

our wood comes at a price.

We are closely pursued;

we are tired, and no one offers us rest.

We made a treaty with[fn] Egypt

and with Assyria, to get enough food.

Our ancestors sinned; they no longer exist,

but we bear their punishment.

Slaves rule over us;

no one rescues us from them.

We secure our food at the risk of our lives

because of the sword in the wilderness.

Our skin is as hot[fn] as an oven

from the ravages of hunger.

Women have been raped in Zion,

virgins in the cities of Judah.

Princes have been hung up by their hands;

elders are shown no respect.

Young men labor at millstones;

boys stumble under loads of wood.

The elders have left the city gate,

the young men, their music.

Joy has left our hearts;

our dancing has turned to mourning.

The crown has fallen from our head.

Woe to us, for we have sinned.

Because of this, our heart is sick;

because of these, our eyes grow dim:

because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate

and has jackals prowling in it.

You, LORD, are enthroned forever;

your throne endures from generation to generation.

Why do you continually forget us,

abandon us for our entire lives?

LORD, bring us back to yourself, so we may return;

renew our days as in former times,

unless you have completely rejected us

and are intensely angry with us.