- 1
- Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.
- 2
- Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
- 3
- We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.
- 4
- We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
- 5
- Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.
- 6
- We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.
- 7
- Our fathers were sinners and are dead;
and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
- 8
- Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.
- 9
- We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
- 10
- Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.
- 11
- They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.
- 12
- Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.
- 13
- The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.
- 14
- The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.
- 15
- The joy of our hearts is ended;
our dancing is changed into sorrow.
- 16
- The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
- 17
- Because of this our hearts are feeble;
for these things our eyes are dark;
- 18
- Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste;
jackals go over it.
- 19
- You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever;
the seat of your power is eternal.
- 20
- Why have we gone from your memory for ever?
why have you been turned away from us for so long?
- 21
- Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned;
make our days new again as in the past.
- 22
- But you have quite given us up;
you are full of wrath against us.
|