Lamentations5A Prayer for Restoration1 Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us.Look and see our disgrace!2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,our houses to foreigners.3 We have become fatherless orphans;our mothers are widows.4 We must buy the water we drink;our wood comes at a price.5 We are closely pursued;we are weary* and find no rest.6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyriato get enough bread.7 Our fathers sinned and are no more,but we bear their punishment.8 Slaves rule over us;there is no one to deliver us from their hands.9 We get* our bread at the risk of our livesbecause of the sword in the wilderness.10 Our skin is as hot as an oven*with fever from our hunger.11 Women have been ravished in Zion,virgins in the cities of Judah.12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;elders receive no respect.13 Young men toil at millstones;boys stagger under loads of wood.14 The elders have left the city gate;the young men have stopped their music.15 Joy has left our hearts;our dancing has turned to mourning.16 The crown has fallen from our head.Woe to us, for we have sinned!17 Because of this, our hearts are faint;because of these, our eyes grow dim—18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate,patrolled by foxes.19 You, O LORD, reign forever;Your throne endures from generation to generation.20 Why have You forgotten us forever?Why have You forsaken us for so long*?21 Restore us* to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return;*renew our days as of old,22 unless You have utterly rejected usand remain angry with us beyond measure.