1Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us; look down and see our reproach.

2Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, our houses to foreigners.

3We are orphans and fatherless; our mothers are as widows.

4We have drunk our water for money; our wood comes for a price.

5Our pursuers are at our necks; we grow weary; no rest is given to us.

6We have given the hand to Egypt, to Assyria, to be satisfied with bread.

7Our fathers have sinned and are not; we have borne their iniquities.

8Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hand.

9We bring in our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

10Our skin is hot like an oven because of the burning heat of famine.

11They raped the women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

12Rulers were hanged by the hand; the faces of elders were not honored.

13They took the young men to grind, and the children have stumbled under the loads of wood.

14The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.

15The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance has turned into mourning.

16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe now to us! For we have sinned.

17Our heart is faint for this; our eyes are dim for these things.

18Because the mountain of Zion lies desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

19You, O LORD, remain forever; Your throne is from generation to generation.

20Why do You forget us forever and forsake us for so long a time?

21Return us to You, O LORD, and we will return; renew our days as of old,

22Unless You have utterly rejected us, and are exceedingly angry against us!