| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! | 1O LORD, reflect on what has happened to us; consider and look at our disgrace. |
| 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. | 2Our inheritance is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes. |
| 3We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. | 3We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers have become widows. |
| 4We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. | 4We must pay money for our own water; we must buy our own wood at a steep price. |
| 5Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest. | 5We are pursued--they are breathing down our necks; we are weary and have no rest. |
| 6We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough. | 6We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria in order to buy food to eat. |
| 7Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. | 7Our forefathers sinned and are dead, but we suffer their punishment. |
| 8Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. | 8Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power. |
| 9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. | 9At the risk of our lives we get our food because robbers lurk in the countryside. |
| 10Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. | 10Our skin is hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger. |
| 11Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. | 11They raped women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah. |
| 12Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. | 12Princes were hung by their hands; elders were mistreated. |
| 13Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood. | 13The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor. |
| 14The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. | 14The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped playing their music. |
| 15The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. | 15Our hearts no longer have any joy; our dancing is turned to mourning. |
| 16The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! | 16The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! |
| 17For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, | 17Because of this, our hearts are sick; because of these things, we can hardly see through our tears. |
| 18for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. | 18For wild animals are prowling over Mount Zion, which lies desolate. |
| 19But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. | 19But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. |
| 20Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? | 20Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long? |
| 21Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old— | 21Bring us back to yourself, O LORD, so that we may return to you; renew our life as in days before, |
| 22unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. | 22unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. |
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