¹⁹ My close friends detest me.
    Those I loved have turned against me.

⁹ Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely,
    the one who shared my food, has turned against me.

¹² It is not an enemy who taunts me—
    I could bear that.
It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—
    I could have hidden from them.
¹³ Instead, it is you—my equal,
    my companion and close friend.
¹⁴ What good fellowship we once enjoyed
    as we walked together to the house of God.

⁴ I love them, but they try to destroy me with accusations
    even as I am praying for them!
⁵ They repay evil for good,
    and hatred for my love.

²⁰ As for my companion, he betrayed his friends;
    he broke his promises.

¹¹ My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease.
    Even my own family stands at a distance.

¹⁴ “One should be kind to a fainting friend,
    but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty.^[a]
15 My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook
    that overflows its banks in the spring