1. O Lord, [earnestly] remember what has come upon us! Look down and see our reproach (our national disgrace)!
2. Our inheritance has fallen over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3. We have become orphans and fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
4. We have had to pay money to drink the water that belongs to us; our [own] wood is sold to us.
5. Our pursuers are upon our necks [like a yoke]; we are weary and are allowed no rest.
6. We have given the hand [as a pledge of fidelity and submission] to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians [merely] to get food to satisfy [our hunger].
7. Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we have borne their iniquities. [Isa. 65:7; Jer. 16:11-12; 31:29; Ezek. 18:2-4.]
8. Servants and slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hands. [Neh. 5:15.]
9. We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness [the wild Arabs, who may attack if we venture into the fields to reap our harvests].
10. Our skin glows and is parched as from [the heat of] an oven because of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine.
11. They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12. They hung princes by their hands; the persons of elders were not respected.
13. Young men carried millstones, and boys fell [staggering] under [burdens of] wood.
14. The elders have ceased from [congregating at] the city's gate, the young men from their music.
15. Ceased is the joy of our hearts; our dancing has turned into mourning.
16. The crown has fallen from our head [our honor is brought to the dust]! Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17. Because of this our hearts are faint and sick; because of these things our eyes are dim and see darkly.
18. As for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, the jackals prowl over it!
19. But You, O Lord, remain and reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to [all] generations.
20. Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?
21. Turn us to Yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned and restored! Renew our days as of old!–
22. Or have You utterly rejected us? Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?