My heart beats wildly, my strength is sapped, and the light of my eyes is going out. My friends stay far away from me, avoiding me like the plague. Even my family wants nothing to do with me.
Every day I beg for your help. Can’t you see my tears? My eyes are swollen with weeping. My arms are wide, longing for mercy, but you’re nowhere to be found.
Before I confessed my sins, I kept it all inside; my dishonesty devastated my inner life, causing my life to be filled with frustration, irrepressible anguish, and misery.
I can’t even count all those who hate me for no reason. Many influential men want me silenced, yet I’ve done nothing against them. Must I restore what I never took away?
‘You have been thinking: “These are horrible times for me. In addition to my pain, now Yahweh adds sorrow to my troubles. I am worn out with groaning, with relief nowhere in sight!” ’