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1Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see 2our disgrace!
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3Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
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We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
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We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.
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4Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest.
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We have given the hand to 5Egypt, and to 6Assyria, to get bread enough.
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Our fathers sinned, and are no more; 7and we bear their iniquities.
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8Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand.
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9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
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10Our skin is hot as an oven with 11the burning heat of famine.
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Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah.
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12Princes are hung up by their hands; 13no respect is shown to the elders.
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Young men are compelled to 14grind at the mill, and boys stagger 15under loads of wood.
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16The old men have left the city gate, the young men 17their music.
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18The joy of our hearts has ceased; 19our dancing has been turned to mourning.
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20The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
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For this 21our heart has become sick, for these things 22our eyes have grown dim,
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for Mount Zion which lies desolate; 23jackals prowl over it.
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24But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.
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25Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?
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26Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old--
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27unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.