| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. | 1Remember, LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. |
| 2Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. | 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. |
| 3We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. | 3We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. |
| 4We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. | 4We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. |
| 5Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. | 5Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. |
| 6We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. | 6We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. |
| 7Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. | 7Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. |
| 8Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. | 8Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands. |
| 9We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. | 9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. |
| 10Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. | 10Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger. |
| 11They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. | 11Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. |
| 12Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. | 12Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. |
| 13They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. | 13Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. |
| 14The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. | 14The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. |
| 15The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. | 15Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. |
| 16The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! | 16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! |
| 17For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. | 17Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim |
| 18Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. | 18for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it. |
| 19Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. | 19You, LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. |
| 20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? | 20Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? |
| 21Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. | 21Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old |
| 22But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us. | 22unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. |
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