Read the Bible

^1 (a)Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
    look, and see ^(b)our disgrace!
^2 (c)Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
    our homes to foreigners.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless;
    our mothers are like widows.
⁴ We must pay for the water we drink;
    the wood we get must be bought.
^5 (d)Our pursuers are at our necks;
    we are weary; we are given no rest.
⁶ We have given the hand to ^(e)Egypt, and to ^(f)Assyria,
    to get bread enough.
⁷ Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
    ^(g)and we bear their iniquities.
^8 (h)Slaves rule over us;
    there is none to deliver us from their hand.
^9 (i)We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
    because of the sword in the wilderness.
^10 (j)Our skin is hot as an oven
    with ^(k)the burning heat of famine.
¹¹ Women are raped in Zion,
    young women in the towns of Judah.
^12 (l)Princes are hung up by their hands;
    ^(m)no respect is shown to the elders.
¹³ Young men are compelled to ⁽ⁿ⁾grind at the mill,
    and boys stagger ^(o)under loads of wood.
^14 (p)The old men have left the city gate,
    the young men ^(q)their music.
^15 (r)The joy of our hearts has ceased;
    ^(s)our dancing has been turned to mourning.
^16 (t)The crown has fallen from our head;
    woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ For this ^(u)our heart has become sick,
    for these things ^(v)our eyes have grown dim,
¹⁸ for Mount Zion which lies desolate;
    ^(w)jackals prowl over it.
^19 (x)But you, O Lord, reign forever;
    your throne endures to all generations.
^20 (y)Why do you forget us forever,
    why do you forsake us for so many days?
^21 (z)Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
    Renew our days as of old—
^22 (aa)unless you have utterly rejected us,
    and you remain exceedingly angry with us.