Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord
Remember, Yahweh, what has happened to us! Look, and see our disgrace!
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
We have become orphans, without a father; our mothers are like widows.
We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get comes at a price.
Our pursuers are breathing down our necks; we are weary and have no rest.
We have put out a hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, making a treaty in order to get enough bread.
Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities.
Slaves rule over us; there is no one to tear us out of their hand.
We get our food at the peril of our souls because of the sword in the wilderness.
Our skin heats up like an oven because of the burning heat of hunger.
They raped the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
Officials were hung up by their hands; the faces of elders were not honored.
Young men labor at millstones; boys stumble under loads of wood.
The elders have ceased from the city gate, the young men from their music.
The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned into mourning.
The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, because we have sinned!
Because of this our hearts are faint; because of these things our eyes grow dim;
because of Mount Zion that is desolate; jackals prowl in it.
You, Yahweh, reign forever; your throne is from generation to generation.
Why do you continually forget us and forsake us for so long?
Restore us to yourself, O Yahweh, and we will be restored. Renew our days as of old,
even though you have rejected, yes, rejected us. You have been very angry against us.