1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. 5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. 6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. 9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. 11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. 13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. 14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. 15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. 16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. 18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. 19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. 20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? 21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. 22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
Mahwilongoni
1 Kumbulani imwi Yahwe tjakatishingikalila,
lingani, mubone kulengudzika kwedu!
2 Thaka yedu yatjibe ye bataya,
mizi yedu yatjibe ye bazhi.
3 Tatjibe siyang'wa dzisina botate,
bomme bedu batjibe tjilikadzi.
4 Tolipa vula yatinong'wa nge mari,
hwuni todziwana ngotenga.
5 Batatamili bedu bapa zwitshitshino zwedu,
tanyala atitowana kunyaluluka.
6 Takazwipa ku Egipiti ne Asiriya,
kuti tiwane zojiwa tigute.
7 Bobatategulu bedu bakatjinya ngono abatjipo,
ngono tolobgwa shamu ye matjinyo abo.
8 Balanda banotibusa,
akuna ungatisunungula mu simba labo.
9 Towana tjatingaja ngolonga matjilo edu mu mbhatsha,
ngekwe thumo mu tjilambanyika.
10 Makanda edu anopisa se vutho,
tina luzhazhamo nge zhala.
11 Bakadzi bakadzugwa mu Ziyoni,
baanadi mu mizi ye Juda.
12 Makulukota akasungiligwa,
sholotjena adzitotetiwa.
13 Bazhuzha banokombeledziwa kushinga ku gwiyo
balisana banodengadenga nge mitolo ye hwuni.
14 Sholotjena adzitjagala ku mikoba ye nzi nkulu,
bazhuzha abatjalidza zwilidzo zwabo.
15 Kushatha kwe mimoyo yedu kwakama,
zana kwedu kwatjishanduka tjililo.
16 Tjiala tjakawa mu misholo yedu.
Yee mme wee! Tapalala ngobe takatjinya!
17 Ngekwa ikoku mimoyo yedu yakatimbama,
ngekwe zwithu izwezwi mesho edu aatjabona ngolila,
18 ngoti Dombo le Ziyoni latjibe dongo,
phungubgwe dzozanila mulili.
19 Koga imwi Yahwe mobusa nge kusingapele,
tjigalo tjenyu tje bushe tjodwa mu tjizekugwana kunoti ku tjizekugwana.
20 Ini mugala mutikangang'wa kene?
Ini mungatifupatila tjibaka tjingapa kene?
21 Mutibgwilize kakale kumuli imwi Yahwe,
kuti ndizo tibgwilile,
bgwilizani mazhuba edu ange a ntolo!
22 Kene makatilashila tjatjose?
Ne kugwadzamoyo kwenyu nge kusina tjilizanyo kene?