Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old
Lamentations 5 (NKJV)
- Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us; Look, and behold our reproach!
- Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, And our houses to foreigners.
- We have become orphans and waifs, Our mothers are like widows.
- We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price.
- They pursue at our heels; We labor and have no rest.
- We have given our hand to the Egyptians And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
- Our fathers sinned and are no more, But we bear their iniquities.
- Servants rule over us; There is none to deliver us from their hand.
- We get our bread at the risk of our lives, Because of the sword in the wilderness.
- Our skin is hot as an oven, Because of the fever of famine.
- They ravished the women in Zion, The maidens in the cities of Judah.
- Princes were hung up by their hands, And elders were not respected.
- Young men ground at the millstones; Boys staggered under loads of wood.
- The elders have ceased gathering at the gate, And the young men from their music.
- The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning.
- The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
- Because of this our heart is faint; Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
- Because of Mount Zion which is desolate, With foxes walking about on it.
- You, O LORD, remain forever; Your throne from generation to generation.
- Why do You forget us forever, And forsake us for so long a time?
- Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old,
- Unless You have utterly rejected us, And are very angry with us!