² “I have heard many things like these.
    You are all painful comforters!
³ Will your long, useless speeches never end?
    What makes you keep on arguing?
⁴ I also could speak as you do
    if you were in my place.
I could make great speeches against you.
    And I could shake my head at you.
⁵ But, instead, my words would encourage you.
    I would speak words of comfort to bring you relief.

⁶ “But if I speak, my pain does not become less.
    And if I don’t speak, it still does not go away.
⁷ God, you have surely taken away my strength.
    You have destroyed my whole family.
⁸ You have made me thin and weak.
    And people feel that this shows I have done wrong.
⁹ God attacks me and tears me with anger.
    He grinds his teeth at me.
    My enemy stares at me with his angry eyes.
¹⁰ People open their mouths to make fun of me.
    They hit my cheeks to insult me.
    They join together against me.
¹¹ God has turned me over to evil men.
    He has thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
¹² Everything was fine with me.
    But then God broke me into pieces.
    He held me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target.
¹³     God’s archers surround me.
He stabs my kidneys and has no mercy.
    He spills my blood on the ground.
¹⁴ Again and again God attacks me.
    He runs at me like a soldier.

¹⁵ “I have sewed rough cloth over my skin to show my sadness.
    I have buried my face in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red from crying.
    I have dark circles around my eyes.
¹⁷ And yet my hands have never done anything cruel.
    And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “Earth, please do not cover up my blood.
    Don’t let my cry ever stop being heard!
¹⁹ Even now I have one who speaks for me in heaven.
    The one who is on my side is high above.
²⁰ The one who speaks for me is my friend.
    While he does this, my eyes pour out tears to God.
²¹ He begs God on behalf of a man
    as a man begs for his friend.

²² “Only a few years will pass
    before I go on the journey from which I cannot return.