Lamentations 5:2-18

2Our inheritance is turned over to strangers; foreigners now occupy our homes.

3We have become fatherless orphans; our mothers have become widows.

4We must pay money for our own water; we must buy our own wood at a steep price.

5We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks; we are weary and have no rest.

6We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria in order to buy food to eat.

7Our forefathers sinned and are dead, but we suffer their punishment.

8Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power.

9At the risk of our lives we get our food because robbers lurk in the countryside.

10Our skin is hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger.

11They raped women in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.

12Princes were hung by their hands; elders were mistreated.

13The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor.

14The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped playing their music.

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!

17Because of this, our hearts are sick; because of these things, we can hardly see through our tears.

18For wild animals are prowling over Mount Zion, which lies desolate.