18
With great force my garment is 1disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19
God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like 2dust and ashes.
20
I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.
21
You have 3turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you 4persecute me.
22
5You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23
6For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for 7all living.
24
"Yet does not one in a 8heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?
25
Did not I 9weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26
But 10when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, 11darkness came.
27
My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction 12come to meet me.
28
I 13go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in 14the assembly and cry for help.
29
I am a brother of 15jackals and a companion of 16ostriches.
30
My 17skin turns black and falls from me, and my 18bones burn with heat.
31
My 19lyre is 20turned to mourning, and my 21pipe to the voice of those who weep.