Lamentations 5:21 is a prayer of the exiled people of Judah, asking God to turn them back to himself so they can be restored. The plea is simple: the people cannot return on their own, so they ask the LORD to do the turning first, and then they trust that their lives can be made new again. The verse was written in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction, voiced by a community grieving the loss of its city, its temple and its sense of God’s presence.
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 opening words, “Turn us to yourself,” ask God to do the work of bringing his people back into right relationship with him. The verb “turn” can refer to physical return, as when someone walks back home, but here it carries the deeper sense of a change of heart and direction. The people recognize that their own efforts have not been enough, so they ask God to draw them back.
The second half, “and we will be turned,” shows the response that follows from God’s action. Once God turns them, they expect to turn as well, meaning they will live in faithfulness and repentance. The verse is not a promise that the people have already done enough to earn restoration. It is a request that rests entirely on God’s willingness to act.
The final line, “Renew our days as of old,” asks God to bring back something like the life they once knew under his care. It does not promise an immediate reversal of their circumstances or a guaranteed return to the past. It expresses hope that God can restore meaning, strength and joy to ordinary days that currently feel empty.
The Context of Lamentations 5:21
Lamentations is a collection of five laments mourning the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian army in 586 BC. Tradition has long linked the book to the prophet Jeremiah, though the text itself does not name its author, and the poems were most likely composed by survivors or those who witnessed the city’s ruin. The audience is the surviving community in Judah, who are living with destroyed homes, a burned temple and a sense that God has withdrawn.
The verses just before this one are full of raw questions and accusations. In verse 20 the people ask why God would forget them and forsake them for so long, and in verse 22 they admit that God seems to have utterly rejected them. Verse 21 stands in the middle of this anguish as a turning point, where the people move from complaint into petition. Read this way, the verse is not a calm statement of faith but a desperate appeal from people who still hope that God has not finally walked away.
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 brought back, pairing the plea for return with the words “turn me, and I will turn.” It echoes the pattern of Lamentations 5:21 and shows the same confidence that God’s turning makes a true return possible.
Psalm 80:3
Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
(WEB)
This psalm repeats a similar petition for God to restore his people, asking him to make his face shine upon them so that they may be saved. It reflects the same longing for God’s renewed favor in the middle of national distress.
A Short Prayer From Lamentations 5:21
Lord, I confess that I have drifted, and I do not know how to find my way back on my own. My heart feels heavy, and my days seem tired and thin. Turn me toward yourself, and I will follow where you lead. Renew my days with your presence, and give me the grace to walk in faithfulness again. Amen.
