Lamentations 5

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

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

  1. Cross References
    Psalms 89:50
    Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations.
  2. Cross References
    Lamentations 3:61
    You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
  3. Cross References
    Psalms 79:1
    O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
  4. Cross References
    Joshua 10:24
    And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, "Come near; put your feet on the necks of these kings." Then they came near and put their feet on their necks.
  5. Cross References
    Hosea 12:1
    Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
  6. Cross References
    Hosea 12:1
    Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 31:29
    In those days they shall no longer say: "'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
    Ezekiel 18:2
    What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?
  8. Cross References
    Proverbs 30:21 - 22
    Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up:
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:25
    Go not out into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.
  10. Cross References
    Lamentations 4:8
    Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
  11. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:24
    They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
  12. Cross References
    2 Kings 25:19 - 21
    And from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
  13. Cross References
    Lamentations 4:16
    The Lord himself has scattered them; he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders.
  14. Cross References
    Judges 16:21
    And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
  15. Cross References
    Joshua 9:27
    But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place that he should choose.
  16. Cross References
    Lamentations 5:12
    Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.
  17. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:8
    The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
  18. Cross References
    Lamentations 5:14
    The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music.
  19. Cross References
    Amos 8:10
    I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
  20. Cross References
    Psalms 89:39
    You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.
    Jeremiah 13:18
    Say to the king and the queen mother: "Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.
    Lamentations 1:1
    How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.
  21. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:5
    Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
  22. Cross References
    Lamentations 2:11
    My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
  23. Cross References
    Isaiah 34:13
    Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.
  24. Cross References
    Psalms 9:7
    But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice.
    Psalms 102:12
    But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.
    Psalms 145:13
    Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]
  25. Cross References
    Psalms 13:1
    How long, O Lord ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
  26. Cross References
    Jeremiah 31:18
    I have heard Ephraim grieving, 'You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God.
    Psalms 80:3
    Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
    Psalms 80:7
    Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
    Psalms 80:19
    Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
  27. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:19
    Have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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