¹Rangarirai Jehovha, zvakatiwira; tarirai, muone kushorwa kwedu.

¹Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us; consider, and see our reproach.

²Nhaka yedu yaenda kuvatorwa, nedzimba dzedu kune vokumwe.

²Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

³Tiri nherera navasina baba; madzimai edu akaita sechirikadzi.

³We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

⁴Takamwa mvura yedu tichiita zvokutenga nemari; huni dzedu takadzitengeserwa.

⁴Our water have we to drink for money, our wood cometh unto us for a price.

⁵Vanodzingana nesu vari pamitsipa yedu; taneta hatine zororo.

⁵Our pursuers are on our necks: we are weary, we have no rest.

⁶Takatambanudzira ruoko rwedu kuna vaEgipita, nokuna vaAsiria, kuti tigute zvokudya.

⁶We have given the hand to Egypt, [and] to Asshur, to be satisfied with bread.

⁷Madzibaba edu akatadza, zvino havachipo; isu takatakura zvakaipa zvavo.

⁷Our fathers have sinned, [and] they are not; and we bear their iniquities.

⁸Varanda vanotibata ushe, hakuna angatirwira pamaoko avo.

⁸Bondmen rule over us: there is no deliverer out of their hand.

⁹Tinozviwanira zvokudya zvedu upenyu bwedu huri panjodzi, nemhaka yomunondo uri kurenje.

⁹We have to get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.

¹⁰Ganda redu rasviba sechoto, nemhaka yokupisa kukuru kwenzara.

¹⁰Our skin gloweth like an oven, because of the burning heat of the famine.

¹¹Vakachinyira vakadzi paZiyoni, nemhandara pamaguta aJudha.

¹¹They have ravished the women in Zion, the maids in the cities of Judah.

¹²Machinda akasungirirwa namaoko avo, vakuru havana kukudzwa.

¹²Princes were hanged up by their hand; the faces of elders were not honoured.

¹³Majaya akatakura guyo, vana vakagumburwa nokurema kwehuni.

¹³The young men have borne the mill, and the youths have stumbled under the wood.

¹⁴Vakuru vakarega kusvika pasuwo, majaya akarega kuimba kwavo.

¹⁴The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.

¹⁵Mufaro womoyo wedu waguma; kutamba kwedu kwashanduka kuchema.

¹⁵The joy of our heart hath ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

¹⁶Korona yawa pamisoro yedu; tine nhamo! nekuti takatadza.

¹⁶The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷Nemhaka iyi moyo yedu yapera simba, nemhaka yezvinhu izvi meso edu haachaoni zvakanaka;

¹⁷For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes have grown dim,

¹⁸nokuda kwegomo reZiyoni, rava dongo; makava anofambapo.

¹⁸Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: foxes walk over it.

¹⁹imwi Jehovha muripo nokusingaperi; chigaro chenyu choushe chiripo kusvikira kumarudzi namarudzi.

¹⁹Thou, Jehovah, dwellest for ever; thy throne is from generation to generation.

²⁰Munotikangamwireiko nokusingaperi, munotirasireiko nguva huru yakadai?

²⁰Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, dost thou forsake us so long time?

²¹Tidzoserei kwamuri, Jehovha, ipapo tichadzoka; vandudzai mazuva edu ave sakare.

²¹Turn thou us unto thee, Jehovah, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

²²Asi makatirasa chose here? Makatitsamwira zvikuru here?

²²Or is it that thou hast utterly rejected us? Wouldest thou be exceeding wroth against us?