| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! | 1LORD, remember what has happened to us. See how we have been disgraced! |
| 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. | 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. |
| 3We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. | 3We are orphaned and fatherless. Our mothers are widowed. |
| 4We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. | 4We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive. |
| 5Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest. | 5Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given no rest. |
| 6We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough. | 6We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive. |
| 7Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. | 7Our ancestors sinned, but they have died— and we are suffering the punishment they deserved! |
| 8Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. | 8Slaves have now become our masters; there is no one left to rescue us. |
| 9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. | 9We hunt for food at the risk of our lives, for violence rules the countryside. |
| 10Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. | 10The famine has blackened our skin as though baked in an oven. |
| 11Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. | 11Our enemies rape the women in Jerusalem and the young girls in all the towns of Judah. |
| 12Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. | 12Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs, and our elders are treated with contempt. |
| 13Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood. | 13Young men are led away to work at millstones, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood. |
| 14The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. | 14The elders no longer sit in the city gates; the young men no longer dance and sing. |
| 15The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. | 15Joy has left our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. |
| 16The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! | 16The garlands have fallen from our heads. Weep for us because we have sinned. |
| 17For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, | 17Our hearts are sick and weary, and our eyes grow dim with tears. |
| 18for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. | 18For Jerusalem is empty and desolate, a place haunted by jackals. |
| 19But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. | 19But LORD, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation. |
| 20Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? | 20Why do you continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long? |
| 21Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old— | 21Restore us, O LORD, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had! |
| 22unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. | 22Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you angry with us still? |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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