1Remember, Yahweh, what has happened to us;
look and see our disgrace.

2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers;
our houses to foreigners.

3We have become orphans, the fatherless,
and our mothers are like widows.

4We must pay silver for the water we drink,
and we must pay silver to get our own wood.

5Those who are coming after us are close behind us;
we are weary and we can find no rest.

6We have given ourselves to Egypt and to Assyria
to get enough food.

7Our fathers sinned, and they are no more,
and we bear their iniquities.

8Slaves rule over us,
and there is no one to deliver us from their hand.

9We get our bread only by risking our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.

10Our skin has grown as hot as an oven
because of the burning heat of hunger.

11Women are raped in Zion,
and virgins in the cities of Judah.

12Princes are hung up by their own hands,
and no honor is shown to the elders.

13Young men are forced to grind grain with a millstone,
and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.

14The elders have left the city gate,
and the young men have left their music.

15The joy of our heart has ceased
and our dancing has turned into mourning.

16The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!

17For this our heart has become sick,
for these things our eyes grow dim

18for Mount Zion lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.

19But you, Yahweh, reign forever,
and you will sit upon your throne from generation to generation.

20Why do you forget us forever?
Why do you forsake us for so many days?

21Restore us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be restored.
Renew our days as they were long ago—

22unless you have utterly rejected us
and you are angry with us beyond measure.