5Lord, remember what has happened to us. See how we have been disgraced!H2142H3068H5027H7200H27812Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.H5159H2015H2114H1004H52373We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed.H3490H369H1H517H4904We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive.H8354H4325H3701H6086H935H42425Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given no rest.H6677H7291H3021H51176We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive.H5414H3027H4714H804H7646H38997Our ancestors sinned, but they have died—and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!H1H2398H369H5445H57718Slaves have now become our masters; there is no one left to rescue us.H5650H4910H6561H30279We hunt for food at the risk of our lives, for violence rules the countryside.H935H3899H5315H6440H2719H405710The famine has blackened our skin as though baked in an oven.H5785H3648H8574H6440H2152H745811Our enemies rape the women in Jerusalem and the young girls in all the towns of Judah.H6031H802H6726H1330H5892H306312Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs, and our elders are treated with contempt.H8269H8518H3027H6440H2205H192113Young men are led away to work at millstones, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.H5375H970H2911H5288H3782H608614The elders no longer sit in the city gates; the young men no longer dance and sing.H2205H7673H8179H970H505815Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.H4885H3820H7673H4234H2015H6016The garlands have fallen from our heads. Weep for us because we have sinned.H5850H5307H7218H188H239817Our hearts are sick and weary, and our eyes grow dim with tears.H3820H1739H5869H282118For Jerusalem is empty and desolate, a place haunted by jackals.H2022H6726H8074H7776H198019But Lord, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation.H3068H3427H5769H3678H1755H175520Why do you continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long?H7911H5331H5800H753H311721Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had!H7725H3068H7725H2318H3117H692422Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you angry with us still?H3988H3988H3966H7107
Dublin, OH
and the young girls in all the towns of Judah.H6031
