1Remember , O Jehovah , what is come upon us : Behold , and see our reproach . 2Our inheritance is turned unto strangers , Our houses unto aliens .
The Consequences of Sin
3We are orphans and fatherless ; Our mothers are as widows. 4We have drunken our water for money ; Our wood is sold unto us. 5Our pursuers are upon our necks : We are weary , and have no rest .
The Depth of Despair
6We have given the hand to the Egyptians , And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread . 7Our fathers sinned , and are not; And we have borne their iniquities . 8Servants rule over us : There is none to deliver us out of their hand . 9We get our bread at the peril of our lives , Because of the sword of the wilderness . 10Our skin is black like an oven , Because of the burning heat of famine .
A Call for Divine Intervention
11They ravished the women in Zion , The virgins in the cities of Judah . 12Princes were hanged up by their hand : The faces of elders were not honored. 13The young men bare the mill ; And the children stumbled under the wood . 14The elders have ceased from the gate , The young men from their music . 15The joy of our heart is ceased ; Our dance is turned into mourning. 16The crown is fallen from our head : Woe unto us ! for we have sinned .
The Assurance of God's Faithfulness
17For this our heart is faint ; For these things our eyes are dim ; 18For the mountain of Zion , which is desolate : The foxes walk upon it . 19Thou , O Jehovah , abidest for ever ; Thy throne is from generation to generation . 20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever , And forsake us so long time ? 21Turn thou us unto thee , O Jehovah , and we shall be turned ; Renew our days as of old . 22But thou hast utterly rejected us ; Thou art very wroth against us .