Lamentations

Chapter 5

A Prayer for Restoration

Lamentations 5 closes the book with a direct communal prayer that asks the LORD to remember the disgrace, dispossession, exhaustion, and social collapse that Judah now endures. The chapter catalogs loss across every layer of life, from inheritance and family security to leadership, joy, and Zion itself, then ends by holding together two truths: the LORD still reigns forever, and the people desperately need Him to restore them if they are to return at all.

As the book's conclusion, this chapter gathers lament into petition. It refuses cheap resolution, ending instead with a prayer suspended between confidence in God's eternal throne and fear of final rejection, which makes it a fitting close to a book that teaches faithfulness through unresolved grief.

1 section·146 words·~1 min read

Begin reading Zoom into first section

Reader

Lamentations 5

A continuous BSB reading flow. Turn on the guide when you want authored orientation; leave it off when you simply want the text.

vv. 1-22

A Prayer for Restoration

Open section

R¹emember, O LORD, what has happened to us. ²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, ³We have become fatherless orphans; ⁴We must buy the water we drink; ⁵We are closely pursued; ⁶We submitted to Egypt and Assyria ⁷Our fathers sinned and are no more,

⁸Slaves rule over us; ⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives ¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an oven ¹¹Women have been ravished in Zion, ¹²Princes have been hung up by their hands; ¹³Young men toil at millstones; ¹⁴The elders have left the city gate;

¹⁵Joy has left our hearts; ¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head. ¹⁷Because of this, our hearts are faint; ¹⁸because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate,

¹⁹You, O LORD, reign forever; ²⁰Why have You forgotten us forever? ²¹Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; ²²unless You have utterly rejected us

Section map

Open the closer view when you want it.

Each section keeps the passage focused, adds summaries and cross references, and gives verse-level links.

01vv. 1-22A Prayer for RestorationThe people ask the LORD to remember their reproach: inheritance has passed to strangers, they live like orphans and widows, daily necessities must be purchased under oppression, and older sins have ripened into present suffering. Social order has collapsed, women and princes are violated, young men and elders lose their proper place, and joy has turned into mourning because the crown has fallen. Yet over against ruined Zion stands the LORD's unshaken throne, and the chapter closes by pleading for Him to restore His people to Himself unless He has utterly rejected them.