Lamentations 5:21 is a plea for restoration. The writer asks God to turn his people back to himself and to renew their days as they once were, admitting that they cannot turn themselves. The words come from the closing chapter of Lamentations, a poem traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, spoken on behalf of a community that has watched Jerusalem and its temple lie in ruins.
Turn us to yourself, the LORD, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old.
Lamentations 5:21 (WEB)
What Lamentations 5:21 Means
The verse has two halves that depend on each other. The first is a request: “Turn us to yourself.” The word translated “turn” carries the idea of bringing someone back the way they came, as a person turns around on a road. The people are not asking God to start a new relationship. They are asking him to bring them back into the one they have drifted away from, and they name the LORD directly, the covenant God of Israel.
The second half states the result: “and we will be turned.” The people are saying that their own return depends on God’s initiative. Repentance is real and necessary, but here the writer recognizes that a broken people cannot simply straighten themselves out. The request for renewal, “Renew our days as of old,” looks back to a time of blessing and asks God to make the present feel like that earlier season again.
What the verse does not promise is a timetable or a guarantee of what the restored life will look like. It is a prayer, not a report. It expresses hope in God’s power to change hearts and circumstances, while the chapter around it stays honest that the hoped-for answer has not yet arrived.
The Context of Lamentations 5:21
Lamentations is a set of five laments mourning the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, which burned the city and destroyed the temple. Chapter 5 is the last of these poems and is written as a communal prayer, using “we” and “us” throughout. Its audience is the surviving people of Judah, who are living in ruin and wondering whether God has abandoned them for good.
The surrounding verses show why the request matters so much. Verse 18 describes Zion as desolate, with foxes walking over its ruins. Verse 20 asks bluntly why God has forgotten his people for so long. Verse 22 then turns dark again with the words “you have utterly rejected us.” Verse 21 sits between these questions and charges, which means the plea for turning and renewal is spoken in the middle of real anguish, not from a place of settled comfort.
Key Phrases in Lamentations 5:21
Jeremiah 31:18
“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are the LORD my God.
(WEB)
This verse records Ephraim’s prayer to be turned back to God, with the same idea of being brought back so that he will return. Reading it alongside Lamentations 5:21 shows that the longing for restoration runs through the prophetic books and is answered by God’s own work in the people.
Psalm 80:3
Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
(WEB)
This psalm repeats the pleading refrain “restore us,” asking God to make his face shine so that the people may be saved. It echoes the same movement from desolation toward renewal, and it grounds the request in the character of God rather than in the worth of those who ask.
A Short Prayer From Lamentations 5:21
Lord, you are the one who remains forever, and we come to you because we cannot turn ourselves around. Our days have felt empty and heavy, and we are tired of pretending otherwise. Turn us toward yourself, and let our hearts follow where you lead. Renew the days we have lost, and give us fresh life in the ordinary hours ahead. Be near us in the waiting, and meet us with the faithfulness you have always shown. Amen.
