Read the Bible

¹ Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us;
take note, and see our disgrace!
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
    our houses, to foreigners.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless,
    our mothers are like widows.
⁴ We pay for water with money,^[a]
    our wood comes to us at a price.
⁵ We are driven on our necks;
    we are weary, there is no rest for us.
⁶ We have made a deal with Egypt and Assyria
    to be satisfied with food.
⁷ Our fathers have sinned, they are no more;
    we bear their iniquity.
⁸ Slaves rule over us;
    there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
⁹ We risk our life for food^[b]
    because of the sword of the desert.
¹⁰ Our skin is hot like an oven
    because of the scorching famine.
¹¹ They raped women in Zion,
    young women^[c] in the cities of Judah.
¹² They hang princes by their hand;
    they do not show respect before elders.
¹³ Young men must carry a hand-mill
    and boys stumble under the wood.
¹⁴ Elders are no longer at the gate,
    young men no longer play stringed instruments.
¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has stopped;
    our circle-dancing has changed to a mourning ceremony.
¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head;
    woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ Because of this, our heart has become faint,
    because of these, our eyes have become dim.
¹⁸ Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
    foxes tread on it.^[d]
19 You, O Yahweh, will sit forever
    on your throne for generation to generation.
²⁰ Why have you forgotten us forever?
    Why have you forsaken us for so long?^[e]
21 Restore us to you, O Yahweh, that we will be restored;
    renew our days as of old.
²² Unless you have utterly rejected us,
    unless you are angry with us beyond measure.