Job 30:16–31

16 “And now my life ebbs away;d

days of suffering grip me.e

17 Night pierces my bones;

my gnawing pains never rest.f

18 In his great powerg God becomes like clothing to med;

he binds me like the neck of my garment.

19 He throws me into the mud,h

and I am reduced to dust and ashes.i

20 “I cry out to you,j God, but you do not answer;k

I stand up, but you merely look at me.

21 You turn on me ruthlessly;l

with the might of your handm you attack me.n

22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;o

you toss me about in the storm.p

23 I know you will bring me down to death,q

to the place appointed for all the living.r

24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken mans

when he cries for help in his distress.t

25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?u

Has not my soul grieved for the poor?v

26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;

when I looked for light, then came darkness.w

27 The churning inside me never stops;x

days of suffering confront me.y

28 I go about blackened,z but not by the sun;

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.a

29 I have become a brother of jackals,b

a companion of owls.c

30 My skin grows blackd and peels;e

my body burns with fever.f

31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,g

and my pipeh to the sound of wailing.