A Prayer for Restoration

Remember, O LORD, what has come

upon us;

Look, and behold our reproach!

Our inheritance has been turned

over to aliens,

And our houses to foreigners.

We have become orphans and waifs,

Our mothers are like widows.

We pay for the water we drink,

And our wood comes at a price.

They pursue at our heels;

We labor and have no rest.

We have given our hand to the

Egyptians

And the Assyrians, to be satisfied

with bread.

Our fathers sinned and are no more,

But we bear their inquities.

Servants rule over us;

There is none to deliver us from

their hand .

We get our bread at the risk of our 

lives,

Because of the sword in the

wilderness.

Our skin is hot as an oven,

Because of the fever of famine.

They ravished thewomen in Zion,

The maidens in the cities of Judah.

Princess were hung up by their

hands,

And elders were not respected.

Young men ground at the

millstones;

Boys staggered under loads of wood.

The elders have ceased gathering at

the gate,

And the young men from their music.

The joy of our heart has ceased;

Our dance has turned into

mourning.

The crown has fallen from our head.

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

Because of this our heart is faint;

Because of these things our eyes

grow dim;

Because of Mount Zion which is 

desolate,

With foxes walking about on it.

You, LORD, remain forever;

Your throne from generation to

generation.

Why do You forget us forever,

And forsake us for so long a time?

Turn us back to You, O LORD, and

we will be restored;

Renew our days as of old,

Unless You have utterly rejected us,

And are very angry with us!