New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
1
Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.
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Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
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We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
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We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price.
5 With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.
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Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.
6 We have made a pact with Egypt and Assyria, to get enough bread.
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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; they are no more, and we bear their iniquities.
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Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
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Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
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We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.
10 Our skin is black as an oven from the scorching heat of famine.
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Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.
11 Women are raped in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.
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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; no respect is shown to the elders.
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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, and 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 left the city gate, the young men 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 The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
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The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.
16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
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The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
17 Because of this our hearts are sick, because of these things our eyes have grown dim:
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Because of this our hearts are feeble; for these things our eyes are dark;
18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
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Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it.
19 But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.
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You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever; the seat of your power is eternal.
20 Why have you forgotten us completely? Why have you forsaken us these many days?
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Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old—
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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 utterly rejected us, and are angry with us beyond measure.
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But you have quite given us up; you are full of wrath against us.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.