New Living Translation NLT
New International Version NIV
1 LORD, remember what has happened to us. See how we have been disgraced!
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Remember, LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
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Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
3 We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed.
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We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows.
4 We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive.
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We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given no rest.
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Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive.
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We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned, but they have died— and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!
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Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves have now become our masters; there is no one left to rescue us.
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Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands.
9 We hunt for food at the risk of our lives, for violence rules the countryside.
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We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert.
10 The famine has blackened our skin as though baked in an oven.
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Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.
11 Our enemies rape the women in Jerusalem and the young girls in all the towns of Judah.
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Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs, and our elders are treated with contempt.
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Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men are led away to work at millstones, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.
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Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders no longer sit in the city gates; the young men no longer dance and sing.
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The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
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Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The garlands have fallen from our heads. Weep for us because we have sinned.
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The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Our hearts are sick and weary, and our eyes grow dim with tears.
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Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim
18 For Jerusalem is empty and desolate, a place haunted by jackals.
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for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.
19 But LORD, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation.
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You, LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long?
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Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us, O LORD, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had!
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Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old
22 Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you angry with us still?
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unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.