6-13 I hate all this silly religion,
    but you, God, I trust.
I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
    you saw my pain,
    you disarmed my tormentors,
You didn’t leave me in their clutches
    but gave me room to breathe.
Be kind to me, God
    I’m in deep, deep trouble again.
I’ve cried my eyes out;
    I feel hollow inside.
My life leaks away, groan by groan;
    my years fade out in sighs.
My troubles have worn me out,
    turned my bones to powder.
To my enemies I’m a monster;
    I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.
My friends are horrified;
    they cross the street to avoid me.
They want to blot me from memory,
    forget me like a corpse in a grave,
    discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
The street-talk gossip has me
    “criminally insane”!
Behind locked doors they plot
    how to ruin me for good.

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I hate those who cling to worthless idols;(A)
    as for me, I trust in the Lord.(B)
I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
    for you saw my affliction(C)
    and knew the anguish(D) of my soul.
You have not given me into the hands(E) of the enemy
    but have set my feet in a spacious place.(F)

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;(G)
    my eyes grow weak with sorrow,(H)
    my soul and body(I) with grief.
10 My life is consumed by anguish(J)
    and my years by groaning;(K)
my strength fails(L) because of my affliction,[a](M)
    and my bones grow weak.(N)
11 Because of all my enemies,(O)
    I am the utter contempt(P) of my neighbors(Q)
and an object of dread to my closest friends—
    those who see me on the street flee from me.
12 I am forgotten as though I were dead;(R)
    I have become like broken pottery.
13 For I hear many whispering,(S)
    “Terror on every side!”(T)
They conspire against me(U)
    and plot to take my life.(V)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 31:10 Or guilt

6-13 I hate all this silly religion,
    but you, God, I trust.
I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
    you saw my pain,
    you disarmed my tormentors,
You didn’t leave me in their clutches
    but gave me room to breathe.
Be kind to me, God
    I’m in deep, deep trouble again.
I’ve cried my eyes out;
    I feel hollow inside.
My life leaks away, groan by groan;
    my years fade out in sighs.
My troubles have worn me out,
    turned my bones to powder.
To my enemies I’m a monster;
    I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.
My friends are horrified;
    they cross the street to avoid me.
They want to blot me from memory,
    forget me like a corpse in a grave,
    discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
The street-talk gossip has me
    “criminally insane”!
Behind locked doors they plot
    how to ruin me for good.

Read full chapter

I hate those who cling to worthless idols;(A)
    as for me, I trust in the Lord.(B)
I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
    for you saw my affliction(C)
    and knew the anguish(D) of my soul.

Read full chapter