1 ¶ Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us; look, and behold our reproach.

2 O ur inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

3 W e are orphans without father; our mothers are as widows.

4 W e have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

5 O ur necks are under persecution; we are become tired and have no rest.

6 W e have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians to be satisfied with bread.

7 O ur fathers have sinned and are dead; and we have borne their chastisements.

8 S laves have ruled over us: there was no one to deliver us out of their hand.

9 W e got our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

10 O ur skin became black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

11 T hey ravished the women in Zion and the virgins in the cities of Judah.

12 P rinces were hanged up by their hand; the countenance of the elders was not honoured.

13 T hey took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

14 T he elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.

15 T he joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

16 T he crown is fallen from our head; woe now unto us, for we have sinned!

17 ¶ For this our heart is saddened; for these things our eyes are become dim.

18 B ecause of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

19 T hou, O LORD, shall remain for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

20 W hy should thou forget us for ever and forsake us for such a long time?

21 T urn us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as at the beginning.

22 F or in stepping back thou hast rejected us; thou hast become very angry against us.