UST LAM Chapter 5

A prayer for God’s mercy

5 Yahweh, think about what has happened to us.

Pay attention and see how people have disgraced us.

2 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.

3 We have no fathers to care for us;

our mothers have no husbands.

4 We have to pay money to drink our own water,

and we have to buy the wood that we need.

5 Our enemies chase us and never let up;

we are exhausted, but they do not let us rest.

6 We surrendered to Egypt and Assyria

so that we could get enough food to survive.

7 Our ancestors sinned and then they died,

but we are the ones suffering for what they did wrong.

8 People who used to be slaves now rule over us,

and no one can rescue us from their power.

9 We risk our lives when we go out to get food,

because violent people in the wilderness will kill us.

10 Our skin burns with fever

because we are starving so badly.

11 Our enemies raped women in Zion

and young women in the towns of Judah.

12 Our enemies hung our leaders by their hands;

they did not respect our elders.

13 They forced our young men to grind flour with millstones,

and boys staggered under heavy loads of firewood.

14 Our elders no longer gather to make decisions,

and our young men no longer play music.

15 We no longer feel happy;

instead of dancing, we grieve.

16 We have lost the honor that we once had.

How terrible it is for us, because we have sinned!

17 Because of all this, we feel sick inside;

because of these things, we cannot stop crying.

18 We are sad because Mount Zion lies empty with no one living there;

foxes roam through it.

19 But you, Yahweh, rule forever!

You have authority over every generation.

20 It feels as though you have forgotten us completely

and abandoned us for such a long time.

21 Yahweh, please bring us back to yourself so that we may return;

make our lives as good as they were before.

22 Please do not completely reject us

or stay extremely angry with us forever!