²³ Why is life given to those with no future,
    those God has surrounded with difficulties?

⁸ God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
    He has plunged my path into darkness.

⁷ He has walled me in, and I cannot escape.
    He has bound me in heavy chains.

²⁷ O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
    O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?

⁶ “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes.
    I will block her path with a wall
    to make her lose her way.

⁹ He has blocked my way with a high stone wall;
    he has made my road crooked.

⁸ You have driven my friends away
    by making me repulsive to them.
I am in a trap with no way of escape.

⁸ You have not handed me over to my enemies
    but have set me in a safe place.

¹² His troops advance.
    They build up roads to attack me.
    They camp all around my tent.

⁶ But it is God who has wronged me,
    capturing me in his net.^[a]