Lamentations 5:20-22

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

²⁰Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?

²¹Turn us to Yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned and restored! Renew our days as of old!—

²²Or have You utterly rejected us? ^[a]Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?

Footnotes

Lamentations 5:22 “The Book of Lamentations, like so many of even the saddest of the psalms, does in fact end with the language of hope, a hope that is so little apparent on the first reading of the conclusion to Lamentations that in many Hebrew manuscripts the words of Lam. 5:21 are repeated at the end, right after Lam. 5:22, so that its words of hope and restoration rather than the somber ending of “Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?” may be the last to fall upon the ear. A similar expedient is used in the case of Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, and Malachi” (The Cambridge Bible). See also footnote on Jer. 52:34.

Lamentations 5:20-22

New International Version

²⁰Why do you always forget us?^(A)
    Why do you forsake^(B) us so long?
²¹Restore^(C) us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
    renew our days as of old
²²unless you have utterly rejected us^(D)
    and are angry with us beyond measure.^(E)