² “Today also my complaint is bitter;^[a]
    his^[b] hand is heavy despite my groaning.^(A)
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
    that I might come even to his dwelling!^(B)
4 I would lay my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.^(C)
5 I would learn what he would answer me
    and understand what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
    No, but he would give heed to me.
⁷ There the upright could reason with him,
    and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.^(D)

⁸ “If I go forward, he is not there;
    or backward, I cannot perceive him;^(E)
9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
    I turn^[c] to the right, but I cannot see him.

³ Yet you are holy,
    enthroned on the praises of Israel.^(C)
4 In you our ancestors trusted;
    they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.^(D)

⁶ But I am a worm and not human,
    scorned by others and despised by the people.^(E)
7 All who see me mock me;
    they sneer at me; they shake their heads;^(F)
8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
    let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”^(G)

⁹ Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
    you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.^(H)
10 On you I was cast from my birth,
    and since my mother bore me you have been my God.^(I)
11 Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near,
    and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls encircle me;
    strong bulls of Bashan surround me;^(J)
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
    like a ravening and roaring lion.^(K)

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
    it is melted within my breast;^(L)
15 my mouth^[a] is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
    you lay me in the dust of death.^(M)

⁶ Seek the Lord and live,
    or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
    and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.^(A)
7 Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood
    and bring righteousness to the ground!

¹⁰ They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
    and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.^(A)
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor
    and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
    but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    but you shall not drink their wine.^(B)
12 For I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
    and push aside the needy in the gate.^(C)
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,
    for it is an evil time.