The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Remember, ADONAI, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.
1
Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.
2 The land we possessed has been passed on to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
2
Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
3 We have become fatherless orphans, our mothers now are widows.
3
We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.
4 We have to pay to drink our own water; we have to buy our own wood.
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We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted; we toil to exhaustion but are given no rest.
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Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.
6 We made pacts with Egypt and Ashur to get enough food.
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We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and no longer exist; we bear the weight of their guilt.
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Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
8 We are ruled by slaves, and there is no one to save us from their power.
8
Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.
9 We get our food at the peril of our lives because of the sword in the desert.
9
We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
10 Our skins are as black as a furnace because of the searing blasts of famine.
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Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.
11 They have raped the women of Tziyon, virgins in the cities of Y'hudah.
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They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands, leaders receive no respect.
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Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, boys stagger under loads of wood.
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The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood.
14 The old men have deserted the city gate, the young men have given up their music.
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The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts, our dancing has turned into mourning.
15
The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.
16 The crown has fallen from our heads. Woe to us! for we have sinned.
16
The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
17 This is why our hearts are sick; this is why our eyes grow dim -
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Because of this our hearts are feeble; for these things our eyes are dark;
18 it's because of Mount Tziyon, so wasted that jackals have overrun it.
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Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it.
19 You, ADONAI, reign forever; your throne endures through all generations.
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You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever; the seat of your power is eternal.
20 Why do you never remember us? Why abandon us for so long a time?
20
Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long?
21 ADONAI, turn us back to you; and we will come back; renew our days, as they were in the past -
21
Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned; make our days new again as in the past.
22 unless you have totally rejected us in a fury that knows no limits. [ADONAI, turn us back to you; and we will come back; renew our days, as they were in the past.]
22
But you have quite given us up; you are full of wrath against us.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.