Friends and companions shun my disease; my neighbors stand far off.
My family has withdrawn from me, my friends are wholly estranged.
They lurk in ambush like lions in a thicket, hide there to trap the poor, snare them and close the net.
The wicked have set snares for me, but from your precepts I do not stray.
Keep me, Lord, from the clutches of the wicked; preserve me from the violent, who plot to trip me up.
Guard me from the trap they have set for me, from the snares of evildoers.
To all my foes I am a thing of scorn, and especially to my neighbors a horror to my friends. When they see me in public, they quickly shy away.
They speak no words of peace, but against the quiet in the land they fashion deceitful speech.
Let those who seek my life be put to shame and disgrace. Let those who plot evil against me be turned back and confounded.
Even I have said, “Lord, take note of me; heal me, although I have sinned against you.
O God, by your name save me. By your strength defend my cause.
I have become an outcast to my kindred, a stranger to my mother’s children.
Because of you my acquaintances shun me; you make me loathsome to them; Caged in, I cannot escape;
All the kin of the poor despise them; how much more do their friends shun them!