² “I have heard many such things;
^(A)Miserable^[a] comforters are you all!
³ Shall ^[b]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
⁴ I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And ^(B)shake my head at you;
⁵ But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

⁶ “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
⁷ But now He has ^(C)worn me out;
You ^(D)have made desolate all my company.
⁸ You have shriveled me up,
And it is a ^(E)witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.
^9 (F)He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
^(G)My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
¹⁰ They ^(H)gape at me with their mouth,
They ^(I)strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.
¹¹ God ^(J)has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, but He has ^(K)shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has ^(L)set me up for His target,
¹³ His archers surround me.
He pierces my ^[c]heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a ^[d]warrior.

¹⁵ “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And ^(M)laid my ^[e]head in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is ^[f]flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
¹⁷ Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And ^(N)let my cry have no resting place!
¹⁹ Surely even now ^(O)my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.
²⁰ My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.
^21 (P)Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his ^[g]neighbor!
²² For when a few years are finished,
I shall ^(Q)go the way of no return.