Turn Us Back to You, O Lord, and We Will Be Restored

This lamentation describes when the Israelites have lost their inheritance. They no longer owned their land, but instead need to work for their conquerors, like the Egyptians and Assyrians. They acknowledged that their forefathers have sinned and they are suffering for their forefathers' iniquities. They are living without joy, as if they are continuously mourning.

However, they know about their personal God. They know, despite their circumstances, God is everlasting and is in control. They ask God to turn them back towards Him. They realise that it is them that need to turn around or repent, so that they can be restored, and they trust God to help them with this. So despite their situation, knowing who God is gives them immeasurable hope.


Lamentations 5
A Prayer for Restoration

1 Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold our reproach!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like widows.
4 We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
5 They pursue at our heels;[a]
We labor and have no rest.
6 We have given our hand to the Egyptians
And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
8 Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
13 Young men ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.
14 The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their music.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our heart is faint;
Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
18 Because of Mount Zion which is desolate,
With foxes walking about on it.
19 You, O Lord, remain forever;
Your throne from generation to generation.
20 Why do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?
21 Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored;
Renew our days as of old,
22 Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!