Read & explore together
A Prayer for Restoration
Lamentations 5 is a prayer asking Yahweh to look at the people’s suffering and restore them. It speaks plainly about loss, shame and grief, then ends by holding together both God’s lasting rule and the pain of feeling rejected.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
This chapter is written as prayer from "us" to Yahweh. The speakers describe their disgrace, hunger, danger, social collapse and sin, then address Yahweh directly about his enduring throne, their long sense of abandonment, and their plea to be turned back and renewed.
Lamentations 5:1–22Main takeaway
This prayer shows that people in deep distress can speak honestly to Yahweh about suffering, sin and longing for restoration.
Explore the prayer
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A cry for Yahweh to noticeThe prayer begins with an appeal: "Remember", "Look", and "see". The people ask Yahweh to take notice of their reproach.
Explanation
The prayer begins with an appeal: "Remember", "Look", and "see". The people ask Yahweh to take notice of their reproach. Then they name losses close to daily life: inheritance, houses, family protection, water, wood, rest and bread. The prayer is specific, not vague, about what has gone wrong.
02Suffering under humiliation and dangerThe prayer describes humiliation, dependence and danger. The speakers say they bear the effects of earlier sin, are ruled over, and have no deliverer.
Explanation
The prayer describes humiliation, dependence and danger. The speakers say they bear the effects of earlier sin, are ruled over, and have no deliverer. Getting bread is dangerous, famine has affected their bodies, and the community has suffered abuse, dishonour and forced labour. Older and younger people alike are affected.
03Joy has ceased and sin is confessedPublic life has broken down. Elders are no longer at the gate, young men are no longer making music, and dancing has become mourning.
Explanation
Public life has broken down. Elders are no longer at the gate, young men are no longer making music, and dancing has become mourning. The line "The crown has fallen from our head" expresses deep loss of honour. In the middle of grief, the prayer also includes confession: "Woe to us, for we have sinned!"
04Desolation, appeal and an unresolved endingThe prayer says the heart is faint and the eyes are dim because Zion is desolate. Then it says Yahweh remains forever and his throne lasts through generations.
Explanation
The prayer says the heart is faint and the eyes are dim because Zion is desolate. Then it says Yahweh remains forever and his throne lasts through generations. Next comes the question of why he forgets them so long, then the plea, "Turn us to yourself" and "Renew our days as of old." Yet the final line is still anguished: "But you have utterly rejected us. You are very angry against us."
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What everyday hardships make this prayer feel especially concrete?
Look for ordinary needs and pressures named in the prayer, such as housing, family security, water, wood, bread and rest.
02Where does the prayer move from describing suffering to confessing sin?
Notice how the speakers describe mourning and loss, then say plainly, "Woe to us, for we have sinned!"
03How do verses 19 to 22 end the prayer without resolving the pain?
Read the order carefully: Yahweh’s enduring throne, the question of being forgotten, the plea for renewal, and then the final anguished line about rejection and anger.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Lamentations 5:1–22
1Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us. Look, and see our reproach.
2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows.
4We must pay for water to drink. Our wood is sold to us.
5Our pursuers are on our necks. We are weary, and have no rest.
6We have given our hands to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7Our fathers sinned, and are no more. We have borne their iniquities.
8Servants rule over us. There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.
9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
10Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.
11They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12Princes were hanged up by their hands. The faces of elders were not honored.
13The young men carry millstones. The children stumbled under loads of wood.
14The elders have ceased from the gate, and the young men from their music.
15The joy of our heart has ceased. Our dance is turned into mourning.
16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17For this our heart is faint. For these things our eyes are dim:
18for the mountain of Zion, which is desolate. The foxes walk on it.
19You, Yahweh, remain forever. Your throne is from generation to generation.
20Why do you forget us forever, and forsake us for so long a time?
21Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old.
22But you have utterly rejected us. You are very angry against us.