1 ARST Yahweh, think about what has happened to us. See how no one respects us any longer. BSB BSB: Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
2 ARST Foreigners have seized our property, and now they live in our homes. BSB BSB: Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 ARST Our enemies have killed our fathers, and caused our mothers to become widows. BSB BSB: We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
4 ARST Now they make us pay for water to drink, and pay for firewood. BSB BSB: We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
5 ARST The enemy runs after us and is very close to us; we are exhausted, but they do not allow us to rest. BSB BSB: We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
6 ARST In order to get enough food to remain alive, we begged Egypt and Assyria to help us. BSB BSB: We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 ARST Our ancestors sinned, and now they are dead, but we are suffering for the sins that they committed. BSB BSB: Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
8 ARST Now the people who rule over us are themselves slaves to their own masters in Babylon. There is no one who can rescue us from their power. BSB BSB: Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 ARST We go far to look for food, but we are in danger of dying when we do so, because of the robbers who live in the wilderness. BSB BSB: We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 ARST Our skin has become hot like an oven, and we have a very high fever because we are extremely hungry. BSB BSB: Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
11 ARST Our enemies have violated the women in Jerusalem, and they have done that to the young women in all the towns of Judea. BSB BSB: Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 ARST Our enemies have hanged our leaders, and they have not respected our elders. BSB BSB: Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
13 ARST They force our young men to grind flour with millstones, and young boys stagger while they are forced to carry heavy loads of firewood. BSB BSB: Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 ARST Our elders no longer sit at the city gates to make important decisions; the young men no longer play their musical instruments. BSB BSB: The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
15 ARST We are no longer joyful; instead of dancing joyfully, we now mourn. BSB BSB: Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 ARST The wreaths of flowers have fallen off our heads. Terrible things have happened to us because of the sins that we committed. BSB BSB: The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 ARST We are tired and discouraged, and we cannot see well because our eyes are full of tears. BSB BSB: Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
18 ARST Jerusalem has no one living any more in it, and jackals prowl around in it. BSB BSB: because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
19 ARST But Yahweh, you rule forever! You continue to rule from one generation to the next generation. BSB BSB: You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 ARST So why have you forgotten us? Will you abandon us for a very long time? BSB BSB: Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
21 ARST Please enable us to return to you, and enable us to prosper as we did previously. BSB BSB: Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
22 ARST Please do that, or is it really true that you have rejected us forever? Is it really true that you will never stop being extremely angry with us? BSB BSB: unless You have utterly rejected us and remain angry with us beyond measure.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.