Lamentations 5

1 Lord, have thou mind what befell to us (Lord, remember what hath happened to us); see thou, and behold our shame.
2 Our heritage is turned to aliens, our houses be turned to strangers. (Our inheritance is turned, or given, over to foreigners, our houses be turned over to strangers.)
3 We be made fatherless children without (a) father; our mothers be as widows (our mothers be like widows).
4 We drank our water for money, we bought our wood for silver. (We must buy our water to drink with money, and we must buy our wood to burn with silver.)
5 We were driven by our heads, and rest was not given to faint men. (The yoke is upon our necks, and rest is not given to the weary.)
6 We gave (the) hand to Egypt, and to Assyrians, that we should be [ful]filled with bread. (We put forth our hands to Egypt, and to Assyria, for food to eat.)
7 Our fathers sinned, and be not, and we bare the wickednesses of them (Our forefathers sinned, and be not, and we carry their wickednesses.)
8 Servants were lords of us, and none was, that again-bought from the hand of them. (Servants be our lords, and there is no one who can rescue us from their hands.)
9 In our lives we brought bread to us, from the face of [the] sword in desert. (Risking our lives, we brought in food for us, from the face of the sword in the wilderness.)
10 Our skin is burnt as a furnace, of the face of tempests of hunger. (Our skin is burned like from a furnace, from being buffeted by the tempests of hunger.)
11 They made low (the) women in Zion, and (the) virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged [up] by the hand; they were not ashamed of the faces of eld men. (Our leaders were hung up by their hands; no one showed any honour to the old men, or the elders.)
13 They misused young waxing men unchastely, and children fell down in (the) tree. (They used the young men unchastely, and children fell down under loads of wood.)
14 Eld men failed from [the] gates; young men failed from the quire of singers. (Old men no longer sit at the city gates; young men no longer sing in the choir.)
15 The joy of our heart failed; our song is turned into mourning.
16 The crown of our head fell down (The crowns have fallen from our heads); woe to us! for we (all have) sinned.
17 Therefore our heart is made sorrowful, therefore our eyes be made dark.
18 For the hill of Zion, for it perished; foxes went in it. (For Mount Zion, for it hath perished; and now foxes run all over it.)
19 But thou, Lord, shalt dwell without end; thy seat shall dwell in generation and into generation. (But thou, Lord, shalt live forever; thy throne shall remain for all generations.)
20 Why shalt thou forget us [into] without end, shalt thou forsake us into [the] length of days? (Why hast thou forgotten us for so long, shalt thou abandon us forever?)
21 Lord, convert thou us to thee, and we shall be converted; make thou new our days, as at the beginning. (Lord, turn thou us back to thee, and we shall come back to thee; renew thou our days, like at the beginning.)
22 But thou casting away hast cast away us; thou art wroth against us greatly. (But thou casting away hath cast us away; thou still hath great anger against us.)

Lamentations 5 Commentaries

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.