1 Yahweh, remember what has happened to us; consider, and see our degradation.
2 Our heritage has passed to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
3 We are orphans, we are fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
4 We have to buy our own water to drink, our own wood we can get only at a price.
5 The yoke is on our necks; we are persecuted; exhausted we are, allowed no rest.
6 We made a pact with Egypt, with Assyria, to have plenty of food.
7 Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear the weight of their guilt.
8 Slaves rule us; there is no one to rescue us from their clutches.
9 At peril of our lives we earn our bread, by risking the sword of the desert.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven, from the scorch of famine.
11 The women in Zion have been raped, the young girls in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hanged by their hands; the face of the old has won no respect.
13 Youths have been put to the mill, boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders have deserted the gateway; the young have given up their music.
15 Joy has vanished from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our heads. Alas that ever we sinned!
17 This is why our hearts are sick; this is why our eyes are dim:
18 because Mount Zion is desolate; jackals roam to and fro on it.
19 Yet you, Yahweh, rule from eternity; your throne endures from age to age.
20 Why do you never remember us? Why do you abandon us so long?
21 Make us come back to you, Yahweh, and we will come back. Restore us as we were before!
22 Unless you have utterly rejected us, in an anger which knows no limit.
Versículos relacionados com Lamentations, 5:
Chapter 5 of lamentations is a prayer of the people of Judah to God, asking for mercy and helps in the midst of the destruction and exile they are facing. The verses related to the topics covered in the chapter are:
Psalm 79:8-9: "Do not remember our past iniquities; look at us, for we are plunged into great difficulties. Help us, O God, our Savior, because of the glory of your name. Deliver us and forgive us Our sins, for the sake of your name. " As in the Psalm, the people of Judah acknowledge that their sufferings are a consequence of their own sins, and ask God to forgive them and help them in their affliction.
Psalm 102:1-2: "Lord, hear my prayer! May my cry come to you! Don't hide your face on the day of my anguish! quickly." In this psalm, the psalmist begs God to hear his prayer in a moment of great distress, as well as the people of Judah in lamentations 5.
Psalm 74:1-3: "Why, O God, have you rejected us forever? Why is your wrath against the sheep of your pasture? Be the tribe of your inheritance; and from Mount Zion, where you dwell. Raise your steps to the eternal places plagued, to all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. " Psalm 74 is a lamentation through the Jerusalem temple destroyed by the enemies, just as the city of Judah was destroyed and looted. The people of Judah in lamentations 5 asks God to remember them and restore their land.
Psalm 80:14-15: "Go back, O God of hosts! Look from heaven and see, and visit this vineyard; and protects it, for it is being destroyed by fire; cut it, rock it, by yours face rebukes your people. " Just as the psalmist asks God to protect and restore the vineyard in danger, the people of Judah in lamentations 5 asks God to restore His land and protect His people.
Isaiah 63:15-16: "Look from the heavens, and see from your holy and glorious housing. Where are your zeal and your powerful works? You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not recognize us; you, O Lord, are our Father; your name is from eternity. " These verses express an appeal of supplication to the Lord to intervene and show His tenderness and mercy to the people. Through lamentation, the authors of lamentation recognize their need for God and their trust in their faithfulness. Similarly, this verse asks God to show His love and care for His people, even if they may have moved away from Him or not have a complete understanding of their will.
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