³ “God, give me some support.
    No one else will!
⁴ You have closed my friends’ minds,
    and they don’t understand.
    Please don’t let them win.
⁵ You know what people say:
    ‘A man neglects his own children to help his friends.’^[a]
    But my friends have turned against me.
⁶ God has made my name a bad word to everyone.
    People spit in my face.
⁷ My eyes are almost blind from my grief.
    My whole body is as thin as a shadow.
⁸ Good people wonder how this could happen.
    The innocent are upset with anyone who is against God.
⁹ But those who do right will continue to do what is right.
    Those who are not guilty grow stronger and stronger.

¹⁰ “But come on, all of you, and try to prove me wrong.
    I don’t find any of you to be wise.
¹¹ My life is passing away, and my plans are destroyed.
    My hope is gone.
¹² Everything is confused—
    night is day, and evening comes when it should be dawn.

¹³ “I might hope for the grave to be my new home.
    I might hope to make my bed in the dark grave.
¹⁴ I might say to the grave, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worms, ‘my mother’ or ‘my sister.’
¹⁵ But you can’t really call that hope, can you?
    Does anyone see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will hope go down with me to the place of death?
    Will we go down into the dirt together?”