⁶ “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
    and if I refrain, it does not go away.^(A)

¹⁵ From my youth^(A) I have suffered^(B) and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors^(C) and am in despair.^(D)
16 Your wrath^(E) has swept over me;
    your terrors^(F) have destroyed me.
¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;^(G)
    they have completely engulfed me.
¹⁸ You have taken from me friend^(H) and neighbor—
    darkness is my closest friend.

10 “I loathe my very life;^(A)
    therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
    and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.^(B)

³ I remembered^(F) you, God, and I groaned;^(G)
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.^[b](H)
4 You kept my eyes from closing;
    I was too troubled to speak.^(I)
5 I thought about the former days,^(J)
    the years of long ago;
⁶ I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

⁷ “Will the Lord reject forever?^(K)
    Will he never show his favor^(L) again?
⁸ Has his unfailing love^(M) vanished forever?
    Has his promise^(N) failed for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?^(O)
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?^(P)”