A Prayer for Restoration 1 UST Yahweh, think about what has happened to us. Pay attention and see how people have disgraced us. BSB BSB: Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
2 UST Our enemies have taken our property and given it to people we do not know; they have seized our homes and given them to people who are not Israelites. BSB BSB: Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
3 UST We have no fathers to care for us; our mothers have no husbands. BSB BSB: We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers are widows.
4 UST We have to pay money to drink our own water, and we have to buy the wood that we need. BSB BSB: We must buy the water we drink; our wood comes at a price.
5 UST Our enemies chase us and never let up; we are exhausted, but they do not let us rest. BSB BSB: We are closely pursued; we are weary and find no rest.
6 UST We surrendered to Egypt and Assyria so that we could get enough food to survive. BSB BSB: We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
7 UST Our ancestors sinned and then they died, but we are the ones suffering for what they did wrong. BSB BSB: Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
8 UST People who used to be slaves now rule over us, and no one can rescue us from their power. BSB BSB: Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 UST We risk our lives when we go out to get food, because violent people in the wilderness will kill us. BSB BSB: We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 UST Our skin burns with fever because we are starving so badly. BSB BSB: Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
11 UST Our enemies raped women in Zion and young women in the towns of Judah. BSB BSB: Women have been ravished in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 UST Our enemies hung our leaders by their hands; they did not respect our elders. BSB BSB: Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders receive no respect.
13 UST They forced our young men to grind flour with millstones, and boys staggered under heavy loads of firewood. BSB BSB: Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 UST Our elders no longer gather to make decisions, and our young men no longer play music. BSB BSB: The elders have left the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.
15 UST We no longer feel happy; instead of dancing, we grieve. BSB BSB: Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 UST We have lost the honor that we once had. How terrible it is for us, because we have sinned! BSB BSB: The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 UST Because of all this, we feel sick inside; because of these things, we cannot stop crying. BSB BSB: Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
18 UST We are sad because Mount Zion lies empty with no one living there; foxes roam through it. BSB BSB: because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
19 UST But you, Yahweh, rule forever! You have authority over every generation. BSB BSB: You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 UST It feels as though you have forgotten us completely and abandoned us for such a long time. BSB BSB: Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
21 UST Yahweh, please bring us back to yourself so that we may return; make our lives as good as they were before. BSB BSB: Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
22 UST Please do not completely reject us or stay extremely angry with us forever! 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.