The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.
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Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us. Look at us, and see our disgrace.
2 Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
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Our property is in the hands of strangers; foreigners are living in our homes.
3 We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.
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Our fathers have been killed by the enemy, and now our mothers are widows.
4 We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
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We must pay for the water we drink; we must buy the wood we need for fuel.
5 Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.
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Driven hard like donkeys or camels, we are tired, but are allowed no rest.
6 We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.
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To get food enough to stay alive, we went begging to Egypt and Assyria.
7 Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
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Our ancestors sinned, but now they are gone, and we are suffering for their sins.
8 Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.
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Our rulers are no better than slaves, and no one can save us from their power.
9 We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
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Murderers roam through the countryside; we risk our lives when we look for food.
10 Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.
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Hunger has made us burn with fever until our skin is as hot as an oven.
11 They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.
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Our wives have been raped on Mount Zion itself; in every Judean village our daughters have been forced to submit.
12 Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.
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Our leaders have been taken and hanged; our elders are shown no respect.
13 The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.
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Our young men are forced to grind grain like slaves; boys go staggering under heavy loads of wood.
14 The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.
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The old people no longer sit at the city gate, and the young people no longer make music.
15 The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.
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Happiness has gone out of our lives; grief has taken the place of our dances.
16 The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
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Nothing is left of all we were proud of. We sinned, and now we are doomed.
17 Because of this our hearts are feeble; for these things our eyes are dark;
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We are sick at our very hearts and can hardly see through our tears,
18 Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it.
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because Mount Zion lies lonely and deserted, and wild jackals prowl through its ruins.
19 You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever; the seat of your power is eternal.
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But you, O Lord, are king forever and will rule to the end of time.
20 Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long?
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Why have you abandoned us so long? Will you ever remember us again?
21 Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned; make our days new again as in the past.
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Bring us back to you, Lord! Bring us back! Restore our ancient glory.
22 But you have quite given us up; you are full of wrath against us.
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Or have you rejected us forever? Is there no limit to your anger?
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.