Lamentations 5

The final chapter is a prayer of petition and confession from the entire community to the Lord. The people plead with God to remember their desperate situation: their land and homes have been seized by strangers, their women have been raped, and their leaders have been killed. They confess their national sin, acknowledging that "Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities." The final plea is simple and agonizing: "Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—unless you have utterly rejected us."