The people of Jerusalem pray
1Lord, please remember
what has happened to us.
Look how the people mock us.
2Strangers have taken our land,
and people from other nations
are living in our homes.
3We have become like orphans
who do not have a father.
We are like children whose mother is a widow.
4If we want water,
we have to buy it,
and we have to pay for the wood we use.
5The people who chase us
have put yokes on our necks.
We are tired, but we can not rest.
6We have put out our hands
and begged the Egyptians
and the Assyrians to get food for us to eat.
7It was our forefathers who sinned,
but all of them are dead,
and now we are suffering
for the things they did wrong.
8The people who rule over us
were slaves and no one
can free us from them.
9When we look for food in the desert,
they are waiting for us,
and they want to kill us.
10We are so hungry
that we have become sick with fever,
and our skin is as hot as an oven.
11The people who rule over us
have raped our wives and young girls
in Zion and the cities of Judah.
12The people who rule over us
have hanged our officials by their hands.
They did not respect our leaders.
13Our young men must grind wheat
with a grinding-stone and our sons
must carry wood that is too heavy for them.
14Our leaders do not sit at the gate anymore,
and our young men have stopped playing music.
15There is no more happiness in our hearts.
We have stopped dancing, and we cry and mourn.
16We don't feel like kings anymore.
We are suffering because we have sinned.
17That is why we are sad,
and that is why our eyes have become full of tears.
18We are sad when we think of Mount_Zion.
No one lives there anymore,
and only foxes go there.
19Lord, You rule forever.
You rule over all generations.
20Why do You forget us all the time?
Why did You leave us for so long?
21Lord, please let us come back to You,
so that we can change
and live like You want us to.
Give us a new life like we had long ago.
22Or have You left us
completely and thrown us away?
Are You so angry with us?
