New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 LORD, remember what has happened to us. See how we have been disgraced!
1
LORD, consider what has become of us; take notice of our disgrace. Look at it!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
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Our property has been turned over to strangers; our houses belong to foreigners.
3 We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed.
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We have become orphans, having no father; our mothers are like widows.
4 We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive.
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We drink our own water—but for a price; we gather our own wood—but pay for it.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given no rest.
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Our hunters have been at our necks; we are worn out, but have no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive.
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We held out a hand to Egypt and to Assyria, to get sufficient food.
7 Our ancestors sinned, but they have died— and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!
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Our fathers have sinned and are gone, but we are burdened with their iniquities.
8 Slaves have now become our masters; there is no one left to rescue us.
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Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power.
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 desert heat.
10 The famine has blackened our skin as though baked in an oven.
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Our skin is as hot as an oven because of the burning heat of famine.
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 raped in Zion, young women in Judah's cities.
12 Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs, and our elders are treated with contempt.
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Officials have been hung up by their hands; elders have been 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 have carried grinding stones; boys have stumbled 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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Elders have left the city gate; young people stop their music.
15 Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
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Joy has left our heart; our dancing has changed into lamentation.
16 The garlands have fallen from our heads. Weep for us because we have sinned.
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The crown has fallen off our head. We are doomed because we have sinned.
17 Our hearts are sick and weary, and our eyes grow dim with tears.
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Because of all this our heart is sick; because of these things our glance is dark.
18 For Jerusalem is empty and desolate, a place haunted by jackals.
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Mount Zion, now deserted— only jackals walk on it now!
19 But LORD, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation.
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But you, LORD, will rule forever; your throne lasts from one generation to the next.
20 Why do you continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long?
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Why do you forget us continually; why do you abandon us for such a long time?
21 Restore us, O LORD, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had!
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Return us, LORD, to yourself. Please let us return! Give us new days, like those long ago—
22 Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you angry with us still?
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unless you have completely rejected us, or have become too angry with us.
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.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible