1 O Lord, reflect on what has happened to us; consider and look at our disgrace. 2 Our inheritance is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes. 3 We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers have become widows. 4 We must pay money for our own water; we must buy our own wood at a steep price. 5 We are pursued—they are breathing down our necks; we are weary and have no rest. 6 We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria in order to buy food to eat. 7 Our forefathers sinned and are dead, but we suffer their punishment. 8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power. 9 At the risk of our lives we get our food because robbers lurk in the wilderness. 10 Our skin is as hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger. 11 They raped women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah. 12 Princes were hung by their hands; elders were mistreated. 13 The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor. 14 The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped playing their music.⁠a 15 Our hearts no longer have any joy; our dancing is turned to mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! 17 Because of this, our hearts are sick; because of these things, we can hardly see through our tears. 18 For jackals³⁴ are prowling over Mount Zion, which lies desolate.⁠b 19 But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. 20 Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long? 21 Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return to you; renew our life as in days before, 22 unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.⁠c