¹Remember, O Lord,

What has come upon us.

Look and see our reproach.

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers

– Our houses to foreigners.

³We have become orphans;

We have no father.

Our mothers are like widows.

⁴We have drunk our water against payment;

Our wood comes at a price.

⁵We are pursued at our necks,

We are weary;

We are not given rest.

⁶We offered the hand to Egypt;

We gave Assyria bread with which to be satiated.

⁷Our fathers have sinned;

They are not here.

We are suffering for their iniquities.

⁸Servants have ruled over us;

No-one breaks away from their grip.

⁹We fetch our bread at the risk of our lives

Because of the sword in the desert.

¹⁰Our skin is as black as an oven

Because of the scorching famine.

¹¹They raped the women in Zion

And the virgins of the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes were hanged at their behest;

The standing of the elderly was not respected.

¹³They took young men to do grinding,

And youths staggered with wood.

¹⁴Old men cease to be at the gate,

And young men playing music.

¹⁵The joy of our heart has ceased;

Our dancing has turned into mourning.

¹⁶The crown on our head has fallen off.

Oh woe to us,

For we have sinned!

¹⁷For this reason our heart has become sick;

On these grounds our eyes have become dark.

¹⁸On Mount Zion,

Which is desolate,

Foxes roam.

¹⁹You, O Lord, remain age-abidingly;

Your throne is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why should you forget us forever

– Abandon us for the length of days?

²¹Restore us, O Lord, to yourself,

And we will return.

Renew our days

As of old.

²²For you have utterly rejected us,

You have been angry with us

In great measure.