You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.

His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.

They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;

His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.

I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.

My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes;

My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.

My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.

They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.

If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.

Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.

His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.

His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.

My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.

My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.

I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth.