⁴ I look for someone to come and help me,
    but no one gives me a passing thought!
No one will help me;
    no one cares a bit what happens to me.

¹⁷ I will give you back your health
    and heal your wounds,” says the Lord.
“For you are called an outcast—
    ‘Jerusalem^[a] for whom no one cares.’”

¹⁸ You have taken away my companions and loved ones.
    Darkness is my closest friend.

¹¹ I am scorned by all my enemies
    and despised by my neighbors—
    even my friends are afraid to come near me.
When they see me on the street,
    they run the other way.

¹³ “My relatives stay far away,
    and my friends have turned against me.
¹⁴ My family is gone,
    and my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My servants and maids consider me a stranger.
    I am like a foreigner to them.
¹⁶ When I call my servant, he doesn’t come;
    I have to plead with him!
¹⁷ My breath is repulsive to my wife.
    I am rejected by my own family.
¹⁸ Even young children despise me.
    When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.
¹⁹ My close friends detest me.
    Those I loved have turned against me.

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

²⁰ Their insults have broken my heart,
    and I am in despair.
If only one person would show some pity;
    if only one would turn and comfort me.