Lamentations 5:11-21

11 Women have been raped in Zion, young women in Judah's cities.

12 Officials have been hung up by their hands; elders have been shown no respect.

13 Young men have carried grinding stones; boys have stumbled under loads of wood.

14 Elders have left the city gate; young people stop their music.

15 Joy has left our heart; our dancing has changed into lamentation.

16 The crown has fallen off our head. We are doomed because we have sinned.

17 Because of all this our heart is sick; because of these things our glance is dark.

18 Mount Zion, now deserted— only jackals walk on it now!

19 But you, LORD, will rule forever; your throne lasts from one generation to the next.

20 Why do you forget us continually; why do you abandon us for such a long time?

21 Return us, LORD, to yourself. Please let us return! Give us new days, like those long ago—

Lamentations 5:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 5

In this chapter are reckoned up the various calamities and distresses of the Jews in Babylon, which the Lord is desired to remember and consider, La 5:1-16; their great concern for the desolation of the temple in particular is expressed, La 5:17,18; and the chapter is concluded with a prayer that God would show favour to them, and turn them to him, and renew their prosperity as of old, though he had rejected them, and been wroth with them, La 5:19-22.

Footnotes

• [a] Or and we will return or so that we can return